


Mad World

by rocknrolleigns (simpleandpure22)



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Blood, Character Death, M/M, Mercenaries, Violence, Virus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2018-11-29 02:49:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11431605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simpleandpure22/pseuds/rocknrolleigns
Summary: Two years after the virus outbreak, Seth has lost everything. Now his only hope lies within a group of mercenaries - that he doesn't know how to trust.





	1. The Nightbreakers

**Author's Note:**

> This fic couldn't be more different from my previous one. It's inspired by some elements from Resident Evil, but with my own twist on it. It's gonna be a bumpy ride - and when I said bumpy, I mean it.
> 
> But, I hope you like it anyway.

The sharp sting of the wind on his face is irritating him, but it won’t make him stop. Seth doesn’t know how long he’s been running. It feels like hours, but he’s lost all sense of time after a while. He just knows that he must keep going. He can’t stop before he’s out of this sector, even though his knees hurt, and his lungs feel like they’re going to explode. The gate can’t be that far away.

The guards at the border gate between Sector 9 and 8 warned him that Sector 8 has been declared as a red zone, and that he better leaves the sector before the curfew starts. Seth doesn’t need them to remind him that he’ll be doomed if he hasn’t reached Sector 7 once the darkness falls. Nobody in their right mind would voluntarily cross a red zone at night. It won’t matter if it’s the patrolling guards or the infected people who find him first; he’s as good as dead.

_Only you can do this, Seth._

Seth keeps running, ignoring his mother’s voice in his head.

“I’m damn trying,” he gasps. It’s no use. He doesn’t think his legs can go any longer. Coming to a halt near a big, oak tree, Seth bends over and coughs violently, his heart beating a million miles per hour. But at least nothing’s happened to him so far. While his breathing is gradually back to normal, Seth scans his surroundings. According to the sign he passed earlier, the gate to Sector 7 is around here somewhere. But he can’t see it anywhere.

It’s getting dark real soon, so he shouldn’t stop in one spot for too long. Seth takes one last deep breath and moves. But he’s only walked for a few hundred meters when he hears something—a noise. Staying dead still, Seth clutches the knife in his hand tightly. The rustling sound comes from the street on his left, followed by a low groan. His heartbeat picks up pace again. The knife isn’t the most effective weapon in the world, but it’s the only protection he has.

 _Leave._ His instinct tells him to run, as fast as he can. But he hesitates. What if it’s a person who needs help? At least he should check it. He’d still be able to run if it was one of the infected; they’re not known for their speed.

Very carefully, ignoring the urge to flee, he approaches the noise. A man is lying on the grass behind the bushes. His breathing is low, almost undetected. There are scratches on his clothes, and a familiar blue tint on the skin of his arms. _He’s infected._ Seth extends his hand that’s holding the knife.

“Help… me…” a muffled voice comes out. “…Please.”

Slowly, Seth lowers the knife a little. The man can still speak. It means the infection hasn’t spread through his blood streams. As he looks up, Seth sees dark blue circles under his eyes, and another one in lighter bluish color around his mouth. “…Help…” he mumbles and then moans, as if it hurts to speak. “Help me…”

Seth doesn’t know what to answer him. There is no way he can help the man; he isn’t even sure he can make it out of here in one piece. “I can’t,” he says, swallowing heavily. "I'm sorry. I don’t even know if I can get out of here before the curfew,” he adds, not understanding why the words make him feel bad. He doesn’t owe the man anything, and in this fucked up time nobody is playing hero anymore.

The only reply he gets is a groan and a repeated, “Help… me…” The man doesn’t seem to hear what he said.

Seth should leave. Now. The more time he’s wasting, the less likely he can reach the gate before the curfew starts. So, why is he still standing here? As he helplessly stares at the man’s hunched back, something comes to his mind.

His brother.

Brandon was infected, too. Seth still remembers the day they took him away; it was a clear summer day. One of the white-clad paramedics said they’d do their best to save Brandon, and that he’d hear from them soon about the result of the treatment. The only time Seth heard from them again was when they informed him that his brother had died under treatment, two weeks later.

All of a sudden Seth hears another noise. A deep growl.

His heart pounds harder in his chest as fear creeps through him. The sound isn’t coming from the poor man on the grass. But where is it from? Seth frantically looks from his left to his right then turns around, trying to locate where the unsettling growl comes from. But then he hears something else that makes his blood run cold. The long siren that signals the start of the curfew.

Nobody is allowed to leave their house, let alone a sector, during the curfew hours. He’s going to be trapped here all night. _With an infected man,_ he glances down. And God knows what else nearby.

A strangled scream escapes his mouth when something pounces on him, knocking him down to the ground. Seth looks up wide eyed at the creature on top of him. It was human once, now it looks anything but. The creature’s eyes are pitch black, looking hollow on the rough, greyish blue skin with visible purple veins. It’s wearing a white shirt that’s stained with dry blood patches, its dirty sand-colored hair sticks to the side of its head. The growl grows louder as it opens its mouth, revealing rows of uneven, sharp teeth.

Seth can feel the creature’s long nails on the side of his neck, then down to his shoulder. He pants, trying to break free by pushing it away, but then a stinging pain makes him stop. The nails slice through the skin of his left arm and Seth cries out in agony.

For a moment everything seems to blur out. The only thing he knows is the open wound on his arm. Then when he slowly regains his consciousness he feels the cold metal of the knife next to his hand. Grabbing the knife as fast as he can, he stabs the creature in its chest. Seth refuses to die like this. Not without a fight.

The creature lets out an inhuman shriek and clutches the knife. Seth uses the chance to push it off him and rolls over. _Run,_ he has to run. Groggily, he stands up and makes a move to run. But in the hurry he doesn’t see the man on the grass. He stumbles over the man’s legs and falls face first. Meanwhile, the creature has pulled the knife out of its chest and throws it away, hobbling over to him. Without any weapon to protect himself, Seth has never felt more helpless in his life. 

A sound of gunshot fills the air, and the creature drops to its knees before plunging down towards the ground.

Blinking in confusion of what just happened, Seth looks up and sees three men in black military gear in front of a black four-wheel drive. Each person is holding up a gun.

“He’s clear, Roman,” the red-haired guy says. “No sign of infection.”

The guy he called Roman stares at Seth with piercing grey eyes. “I know. But better be safe than sorry.”

Before Seth can decipher what he means by that, he pulls something out of his vest pocket. It’s a small device that looks like a thermometer. He kneels down next to Seth. “Stay still,” he orders, pressing the tip onto the skin behind Seth’s ear and clicking a button. The cold touch of the metal on his skin makes Seth shiver.

The device lets out a beeping sound and Roman pulls it back. His eyes leave Seth’s face for a second to read what’s written on the display. “He’s clear,” he says. His voice is deep and oddly soothing, on contrary to his intense gaze. He emits some kind of assurance, and the dread that settled in Seth’s stomach slowly evaporates.

“I told you,” the redhead responds. “But he’s hurt.”

“I can see that.” Roman is still watching Seth. “Dean, can you get me something to stop the bleeding?” he asks the third guy, who nods and picks up some black shirt from the car. He walks over to them and gives it to Roman.

Seth winces when Roman gently presses the shirt onto his arm. “Here, hold this,” he tells Seth. “Keep it pressed against the wound. It’ll quickly get soaked in blood but our base is in Sector 7, not too far from here,” he adds. “Are you okay?”

Finding himself unable to look away from the grey eyes, Seth slowly nods. “I’m okay,” he opens his mouth for the first time since they arrived. “Just a bit dizzy.”

“It’s normal after losing some blood,” the redhead says kindly. “Our medical team will patch you up in no time.”

“This one is definitely not clear,” says Dean, looking down at the man on the grass who’s still moaning weakly. Unlike the other two, he’s wearing a black sleeveless shirt instead of a black vest.

Roman moves closer to the man, examining his blue tinted skin. “It’s still an early stage,” he says. “Help me take him to the car.” Dean nods and together they pull the guy up. He is unable to walk, so they have to drag him to the car. Seth watches them as they carefully put him inside the trunk.

“I’ll burn this one,” the redhead says, gesturing at the creature that attacked Seth. It’s now lying unmoved on the ground. “It must be the one that killed the guard yesterday,” he continues. “Matches the description they gave us: male, blood-stained white shirt, blond hair.”

Roman is back on Seth’s side, gently pulling him up. “Yeah.” He helps Seth climb into the backseat of the car and buckles the seatbelt for him. From the window, Seth sees the red-haired guy pour some gasoline on the creature and lit a fire. The flame engulfs it in no time, creating thick, black smoke in the darkened sky.

“Who are you?” Seth blurts out before he can stop himself.

Roman is already sitting behind the wheel. But Dean, on the passenger’s side, turns his head and shoots Seth a lopsided smile. “We’re The Nightbreakers,” he says. “Ever heard of us?”

 _The Nightbreakers._ Yeah, Seth has heard of them. They’re a group of mercenaries that was formed not long after the virus outbreak, two years ago. They’re trained to deal with the infected in all its form, and the only one who can defy the curfew.

And they just saved Seth’s life.

As soon as the redhead gets inside next to Seth and mounts his seatbelt, Roman puts the car into gear and drives. Seth can’t make up their surroundings since Roman is driving fast, but he recognizes the metal fence and the black gate. Roman slows down when they come near the gate and picks the speed back up when one of the guards give him a nod. So, it’s true that the curfew doesn’t apply to The Nightbreakers. Seth lets out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding, as they enter Sector 7.

 _It must be the one that killed the guard yesterday,_ the redhead’s voice plays in his mind. The realization makes Seth shiver. It could have easily killed him, too. He could’ve been dead by now, or worse, becoming one of them.

He’s safe now. The wound on his arm throbs painfully, but he’s alive to see another day.

 

* * *

 

When they’ve been driving for a while, a grey and white building comes into view. It looks like a facility of some sorts. A guy wearing a similar gear opens the gate and nods, letting the car in. They continue to drive around the building, before Roman pulls over and stops behind another black car.

The redhead helps Seth unbuckle his seatbelt. Roman and Dean have already left the car. They open the trunk and take the infected man out. Seth follows them with his eyes until they disappear behind a door.  “They have to take him to the lab and report the mission to our leader,” the redhead explains. “Come on, let’s get you patched up.”

They enter a different door on the left side of the building. As they’re walking through a corridor, Seth sees more doors.

“I’m Sami, by the way,” Sami says in a friendly, conversational tone. “What’s your name?”

“Seth,” Seth replies absently, trying to remember the direction they’re going, but it’s impossible because every door looks awfully similar.

“What were you doing in Sector 8? Didn’t you know it has been marked as a red zone? The uninfected citizens have been evacuated to the other sectors,” Sami says again, sounding curious and slightly admonishing this time. “You’re lucky you met us.”

Seth glances at him as they continue walking. “I lived in Sector 9. I drove a car but ran out of fuel not long after entering Sector 8, so I ditched it and ran,” he says. “I thought I’d make it before the curfew.”

Sami’s eyes perk up with interest. “You ran all the way from Sector 8’s gate to where we found you?” he asks in disbelief. “But it’s almost 20 miles away.”

Shrugging with one shoulder, because one of his hands is still pressing the shirt to his wound, Seth replies, “I have a pretty good stamina.”

It seems like Sami still wants to say something, but then he stops in front of a door and opens it, revealing an infirmary. A woman with fiery red hair looks up from behind the desk. She smiles when she sees Sami, but her smile falters when Seth comes into view.

“Oh my God, what happened?” she exclaims, rising to her feet. Before Seth can do anything, she’s already by his side, gently pulling the shirt from his arm.

“Got attacked in Sector 8,” Sami tells her, as she makes Seth sit down on one of the beds. “This is Becky, one of our medics. Becky, this is Seth.”

Becky is quick in whatever she’s doing. She discards the bloody shirt and examines Seth’s wound. “It’s not as bad as it looks. None of your blood vessels and nerves is severely damaged. One of the cuts is quite deep it requires some stitches, but the rest are just scratches.” She stops to look at him. “You’re very lucky.”

“I know.” Seth looks back at her.

Becky holds his gaze for one more second before turning to Sami. “Sami, can you get Tye for me? The sooner we treat the wound the better.”

“Sure thing,” Sami says, moving towards the door. “Roman and Dean must have told Eric about Seth. I’ll tell them the wound is nothing serious.”

When Sami has closed the door behind him, Becky takes a bottle from the white shelf next to her desk, as well as some cloth. “There is some dirt in the wound, I have to clean it first,” she says, smiling apologetically. “It’s going to hurt.”

Seth nods. As soon as the cloth makes contact with his skin, he feels a stinging, burning pain. Seth squeezes his eyes shut, reminding himself that it could have been a lot worse.

 

* * *

 

Becky makes Seth stay in the infirmary overnight after his wound got treated. Tye, the other medic, brings him a clean, blue shirt and a pair of shorts in similar color. Seth doesn’t have the best sleep. The creature in Sector 8 keeps coming in his dreams, waking him up a few times during the night. In one of the dreams it bites his arm, and when he looks down the skin has turned black and blue. In the other dream the creature slashes his neck, leaving him drown in his own blood.

Seth sits bolt upright, panting heavily. His stomach is tight with dread as he slowly touches his wounded arm. It’s still neatly covered in a bandage—and no blood. _It’s just a dream… you’re fine._ After sitting for a while, Seth reluctantly lies back down. He doesn’t know how long he’s been staring at the dark ceiling, but eventually it becomes harder to keep his eyes open.

Becky gently wakes him up in the morning, bringing some breakfast. Seth just realizes how hungry he is, when he gobbles down the cornmeal porridge in seconds. Becky says nothing, but there’s a kind smile on her face as she watches him.

“How do you feel?” she asks, taking the empty plate.

“I’m okay,” Seth says after finishing a glass of water. He knows he looks tired, but there’s no need to tell her about the nightmares. They’ll stop eventually. Like the dreams about his mother. Or his brother. It might take time, but they always go away.

Becky clearly doesn’t think so, but she doesn’t push him. He appreciates it. “If your wound still hurts I can give you a little painkiller,” she offers.

“No, I’m fine. Really,” Seth says quickly. He hates painkiller. It makes him feel drowsy and weak.

“All right. But don’t hesitate to tell me if you feel any persistent discomfort,” Becky finally relents. She looks at him for a second before saying. “Our leader Eric would like to see you when you’ve felt better.”

“I can see him now if he wants.” The sooner Seth finds out more about the whole ordeal with The Nightbreakers the better.

Becky looks slightly skeptical, but she doesn’t object. She picks up the phone and talks to someone called Kevin. A few minutes later a man walks in with a pile of clothes in his arms.

“Sorry man, your clothes are ripped in places. I got rid of them,” the man—Kevin—says. “Sami lent you some of his clothes. He’s a bit bigger than you but it should be alright.”

Seth thanks him and accepts the clothes. He must remember to thank Sami when he sees him. Pulling a dark blue shirt and a pair of black cargo trousers from the pile, he takes off his shirt and puts the new one on. It takes time because his left arm is stiff and he can’t move it freely. Kevin wants to help but Seth assures him he can do it himself. Then Becky offers to keep the remaining clothes until Seth gets his own room.

It’s another thing that has been bothering Seth. He doesn’t know how long he’s allowed to stay. He’s not infected; they don’t have any reason to take him in. But he pushes the thought away and follows Kevin to meet the leader.

Two corridors away from the infirmary there is a hall. Kevin opens the last door on the left: a tall, grey door. Inside, it looks like a meeting room with a huge, black table in the middle and a lot of chairs around it. A long whiteboard is attached to the wall—at the moment it’s clean. Several people are sitting on the chairs, looking at Seth as soon as he enters the room. Seth suddenly feels a bit nervous. He didn’t expect this many people to be present.

Among them are Roman, Dean, and Sami. The redhead gives Seth a friendly wave, while Dean slightly nods at him. Roman doesn’t smile. His gaze is as intense as it was yesterday, but Seth feels the same odd sense of security in his presence. He has no idea why.

“Seth? I’m Eric Bischoff,” a grey-haired man wearing a white lab coat greets him. “Please, have a seat.”

Seth sits down next to Sami, who grins as he recognizes his shirt. Bischoff sits back down, looking at Seth with obvious interest. Seth feels a strong urge to look away, but he forces himself not to.     

“How is your wound?” Bischoff asks.

“It’s fine,” Seth replies. He feels everyone’s eyes on him, as if waiting for more. _Well, suit yourselves,_ because that’s all he has to say.

When it’s clear Seth isn’t going to say more, Bischoff gives him a small smile. “As you’ve probably known, we are The Nightbreakers. We take care of those who are affected by the virus,” he explains. “There are different stages of infection. The one that attacked you was an example of the virus that has fully manifested. In that case, there’s no other option but to kill it and burn the body. Otherwise it would come back as a zombie.”

It’s nothing Seth hasn’t heard before, so he merely nods. Bischoff watches him for a second before continuing, “The other man is also infected, but the virus in him hasn’t developed completely. We decided to put him into treatment, and see what we can do to slow down the infection.” He takes another pause. “Do you know him?”

“No,” Seth says. “Never saw him before yesterday.”

Next to him, Sami retrieves something that looks like a driving license from his pocket. “We found this. His name is Adrian Neville, 29 years old, lived in Sector 8.” He hands the card to Roman who slides it on the table towards Bischoff with an impressive precision.

Bischoff examines the card for a moment. “We’ll see how it goes after the treatment.”

“How do you treat them?” Seth can’t help asking. “What makes it different from the one the government is doing?”

Before Bischoff answers, Dean beats him to it. He snorts, drawing everyone’s attention. “The government ain’t do shit. Have you heard about anyone coming back from their so-called quarantine? Nope. Because nobody makes it back alive.”

 _One of them is Brandon_. Seth doesn’t object him, because what he’s telling is the truth.

“To be fair, they did try to do something during the first few months,” Bischoff comments in a neutral tone. “But they dropped the ball after they realized how severe the outbreak was.”

“And you guys don’t?”

It sounds more accusatory than he intended to. But Bischoff’s voice doesn’t change when he replies, “We do whatever we can to help the infected.” He looks at Seth, his face as neutral as his voice. “We’ve developed a vaccine that so far is effective to suppress the effect of the virus, but of course it depends on the stage of the infection. Some people have more hope than others.” He pauses, letting Seth digest what he just said. “I still believe there is a cure. There has to be. Our research team and I are doing our best to find it.”

Seth holds his gaze, saying nothing. The room is silent until Bischoff says again, “You can stay here as long as needed, until your wound is completely healed. And after that maybe you’ll be interested in joining us, or maybe not. We’ll talk about it when the time comes.” He pushes his chair backwards and stands up. “You’re all free to go.”

He walks out of the door, followed by the majority of people in the room. Seth stays on his chair, not quite sure what is expected of him. What is he supposed to do? He doesn’t want to go back to the infirmary and bother Becky and Tye.   

“I knew my clothes would fit you.” Seth looks up and sees Sami grin down at him. Roman and Dean haven’t left either. The four of them are the only ones left in the room.

“Yeah, thanks,” Seth says, averting his eyes at Dean and then Roman. Both men are watching him. Dean has his familiar lopsided smile, while Roman’s face is unreadable as usual. “I, uh, haven’t thanked you guys for saving my life,” he tells them awkwardly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Roman replies and—much to Seth’s surprise—gives him a smile. It’s just a faint smile, but it makes his face, especially his eyes, look much softer. Seth realizes he’s staring at Roman. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he forces himself to look away, turning his attention back to Sami.

“Yeah, man, didn’t want you to be eaten, did we?” Sami says jokingly. Seth admires how he manages to still be upbeat in this depressive time.

“I’ll return your clothes when—“

Seth starts, but Sami cuts him off, “Nah, it’s fine. You can keep them. I still got plenty.” He grins, playfully nudging Dean with his elbow. “I figured mine are better than Dean’s. They’re all black.”

“Nothing’s wrong with black,” Dean responds gruffly.

They argue back and forth about Dean wearing his mission gear when he’s not on a mission, until Roman has enough and tells them to stop.

“Sami, go show Seth around. And ask Emma if she has figured out where he’ll stay,” he says. “Dean, come with me to the Q lab to check on this Neville guy.”

Dean nods and they head for the door. Sami motions Seth to follow him, but they’re going to a different direction.

“The Q lab they were talking about is the quarantine lab,” Sami explains as they walk down the hall. “It’s where the infected are treated.” He knocks on a door once and opens it. “We’ll see Emma first to ask where you’ll sleep. I’m guessing you’ll get one of the rooms in the east wing, but we’ll see.”

Seth nods and enters the room after him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Roman, Dean, and Sami as mercenaries though.~~


	2. Trust No One

It doesn’t take long for Seth to get used to the life in the base. Like Sami predicted, he got a room in the east wing. Only two other rooms are currently occupied. He heard from Sami that the majority of them sleep in the west wing, while the east wing is mostly used to accommodate guests or family members of the infected.

“Sometimes people ask for our help,” is what Sami tells him. “If their family got infected. But we can’t take everyone; only those we deem hopeful.”

“What happens to the ones you can’t take?”

Sami looks reluctant. “The family decides if they’ll let the government take the infected away and do God knows what with them. Or they give us a permission to end their suffering.” He doesn’t elaborate further what they do to end the suffering, and Seth doesn’t ask.

The two other people who stay in the east wing are two women called Naomi and Lana. Both their husbands are infected. Seth has only seen Lana twice, and both times she looks like she’s in the verge of tears. Naomi is more positive; she always smiles at Seth whenever they meet. Although there’s sorrow in her eyes that the smile can’t quite conceal.

Seth has seen Naomi’s husband in the Q lab. None of the infected is allowed to leave the lab, but the ones he’s seen are too weak for it anyway, despite their infection is being suppressed by the vaccine. Another infected that Seth has met is a little girl called Lola, who’s only nine years old. Her mother Nia is a member of The Nightbreakers.

The infected guy from Sector 8 Neville still has the same bluish tint on his skin, though he doesn’t moan in pain anymore. Seth overhears Dean and Roman talking about how they haven’t been able to ask him anything. But he seems to do better.

Lana’s husband Rusev is separated from the rest of them, because his infection is at an advanced stage. His room is in a secluded section in the lab where people, other than the research team, need a permission to enter. Seth finds out the reason behind the restriction when a new infected is taken into the lab, directly into the section, and Bischoff allows him to come with them.

The section is divided into several rooms with glass walls; each room has a bed and a restraint chair. Seth ignores the uncomfortable tug in his stomach when he looks at the rooms, trying not to think about his brother being strapped onto the chair, like the man they just brought in.

The man has the same signs as the other infected, such as blue tinted skin, prominent veins, and hollow eyes. But unlike the ones Seth has seen, he’s way stronger. Roman and Sami wrestle to put him on the chair, and at some point he even manages to shove Sami away. They both look frazzled when they’ve tied him onto the chair. Seth, Dean, Bischoff, and another medic called Xavier watch from outside, through the glass wall.

“He’s strong.” Sami is still panting as he and Roman join them.

“And violent,” Roman adds. “When we found him in Sector 8, he had destroyed three abandoned cars.”

Bischoff never takes his eyes off the guy who’s now howling, struggling to break free from the chair. “It’s interesting how the virus reacts in different stages. In the early stage it weakens the infected, like in Jimmy, Lola, and Neville’s case. And then we have this guy and Rusev, who’ve gotten inhuman strength.”

Maybe it’s just Seth, but there’s a slight fascination in the way Bischoff talks about the virus. It doesn’t sit right with him, but he says nothing.    

“Shall we?” Bischoff motions at Xavier to follow him inside.

When they’ve entered the room, Dean shifts closer to Seth to close the gap. “If you ask me, they’ll put him down before the end of the week,” he mumbles.

From the corner of his eye, Seth sees Roman shake his head. “Always so optimistic, aren’t you?” Roman says sarcastically, although there’s no heat in his voice. “Maybe they can suppress his infection and reduce the level of violence.”

The respond he gets from Dean is a snort. “Come on, Ro. Don’t you remember that T.J. guy? He was exactly the same.” He turns to Seth. “He ripped his own heart out before we could restrain him. The heart lay there near the chair, still beating, and there was blood everywhere, even on the walls. It took two days to completely sterilize the room again.”

“Dean, there’s no need to tell him that,” Sami tells him off, his face contorting into a grimace.

Dean shrugs, looking at Seth, as if waiting to see how he’s gonna react. “What, does that freak you out?”

Seth glances at him, and then averts his gaze back at Bischoff and Xavier who are trying to take a blood sample from the guy. Maybe two years ago it would freak him out. But now after everything he’s seen, it’s just another disturbing thing. Like the vivid nightmares he has nearly every night—of his neck being cut open and his blood being drained.

“No,” Seth replies flatly.

From the corner of his eye, he sees that Roman is watching him.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t take everything Dean says too seriously. He has no brain-to-mouth filter,” Sami tells him when he and Seth are waiting for the supply truck later that day. “But he’s loyal and very dependable.”

“I know,” Seth says, watching the trees across the road. Since he came here, this is the first time he goes outside. “It’s fine.”

For a moment, none of them speaks. It’s weird to see Sami being quiet, since he usually never stops talking. But the silence doesn’t last long. “You know, you haven’t told us much about yourself,” Sami says. “Does your family live in Sector 9?”

“They did,” Seth says, still fixing his gaze on the trees. “Until they died. They caught the virus.”

“I’m sorry.” Sami’s voice is apologetic.

Seth shakes his head. “It’s alright. How about you? How did you end up here?” he asks, doesn’t want to dwell on the subject about his family.

Sami seems to get it. “I was a guard in Sector 3 for four years. You remember that Sector 3 was the first sector that was declared as a red zone, right? When the outbreak happened there was a total chaos. There were infected people everywhere and the guards were quickly outnumbered. We didn’t know what to do.” He takes a deep breath. “The initial order was to remove the infected from their homes and put them in quarantine, so that they wouldn’t endanger their families. But it quickly became manslaughter.” His voice now sounds grim as he winces.

Seth doesn’t interrupt him. Although what Sami said brought back a lot of memories he would rather not think about.

“More and more guards killed anyone they suspected to be infected, without even bothering to check. I was disgusted by all that, so I quit. I told my family I couldn’t do that anymore,” Sami goes on. “We moved to Sector 1 and there I met Kevin, who’s an old friend of mine. He told me about this mercenary group who was looking for members. When I heard about their objective to help the infected I didn’t hesitate one bit to join.”

Nothing he said surprises Seth. The guards’ brutality towards the infected is not something new. This mistrust caused a lot of people to hide their infected family member from the government, and as they all know it didn’t end well. After Sector 3 being the first one, Sector 4, 6, 10, 13, and the latest one Sector 8, have also been declared as red zones. There were rumors that Sector 11 is in danger of becoming one, too. But so far it hasn’t been true. Though Seth has no doubt it will be; the question is when.

“Almost everyone in the group has been affected by the outbreak,” Sami says again. “Becky lost her sister, so did Dean. Nia lost her brother and her husband. Xavier lost his wife. The same with Tye and Curtis. Roman lost his whole family: his parents, brothers and sisters, his wife, and their little son.”

Seth feels his insides clench. He isn’t sure he wants to hear this. It makes everyone more human, instead of just some mercenaries doing their job. Seth has reasons why he can’t trust these people, no matter how sympathetic they may appear. They are connected to the government, and that’s enough reason by itself.

_Don’t trust anyone._

His mother told him that, and Seth is gonna hold on to it. She trusted a wrong person once; look where that got her. These mercenaries may be able to help him do what he needs to do, but he’ll be _very_ careful about it. Although if Seth is being honest, he believes that Sami won’t do him any harm. Neither will Becky. But he’ll hold his judgement about the rest of them.

 _There’s also Roman,_ his mind tells him what he doesn’t want to hear. Roman makes Seth feel— _oddly_ —somewhat secure, like nothing bad would happen when he’s around. Seth doesn’t need that. He doesn’t need a false sense of security.

Nobody is safe.

“You’ve seen his cousin Jimmy in the Q lab. He and Naomi are the only family Roman’s had left.” Sami’s voice has turned quieter. “Jimmy had a twin brother called Jey, but he didn’t make it either.”

“That’s a pity,” Seth says. There’s silence for a moment before he asks, “How about your family?”

Sami gives him a small smile. “They’re alive and well, in Sector 1,” he says.

“Isn’t Sector 1 the most protected Sector?” Seth asks. “How did they grant you a permission to move there?”

“Back then it was still possible. At that time only Sector 3 was declared red, so people didn’t rush to move to other sectors like they do now.”

It gets Seth’s interest, but he’s keeping his voice neutral. “I heard you need to have a valid reason to enter the sector, and you must apply for an entrance permit to the health department.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Sector 1 is as sterile as it can be from the virus. They’re extremely strict about who they allow to enter,” Sami says. “In their book, it means no one.”

The sun is going lower in the horizon. The gentle heat of the sunlight feels like a delight on Seth’s skin, after only being inside the building for days. “But as a member of The Nightbreakers, you’re permitted to enter? Just like you can defy the curfew?” he asks, trying to make it sound like a passing question. Although he doubts Sami will suspect anything.

As he expected, Sami buys it, being the nice person that he is. “I suppose we are,” he replies. “Why did you ask?”

Seth gives him a shrug. “Just asking.”

Like before he doesn’t question him, and Seth feels a bit bad using him to get information. Sami seems to be a really good guy. But it’s too early to judge, when you’ve only known a person for a week.

“Do you consider joining us after your wound's healed?” Sami asks again, sounding curious.

If it’s the only way he can enter Sector 1. “I don’t know. Maybe.” Seth doesn’t want to lie to him, but half the truth is not a lie.

Sami looks at him and smiles. “I’m already used to have you around, man, so I hope you do.”

He sounds so genuine that Seth can’t help smiling back. “We’ll see.”

 

* * *

 

“Be careful,” Roman reminds Dean for the second time as they leave the car. As usual, Dean laughs it off.

“I’m always careful.”

There are hundreds of proofs from their missions together that prove otherwise, but Roman doesn’t have time to bring them up. Not right now. He slams the car door closed with one hand, holding his gun with the other hand. On the other side of car, he sees that Dean has also had his gun ready.

Mary, the woman who called them this morning, opens the door right away after Roman rings the bell. She has a look on her face that Roman has seen countless of times: a combination of fear, uncertainty, and hope, all at the same time. “Thank you for coming,” she says in a rushed voice, leading them inside. “He’s in his room on the second floor. The first door on the left.”

Nodding slightly, Roman makes a move to head for the stairs, with Dean right behind him. But Mary holds his arm, making him stop. She looks at the gun in his hand with sheer concern in her eyes.

“Is that—is that necessary?” she asks with wide eyes, still holding Roman’s arm. “You’re not gonna shoot my son, are you?”

Dean has stepped forward, closer to the stairs. Roman throws him a warning glance when he begins to fidget impatiently. “It’s only a precaution, ma’am. The infected can be dangerous for themselves and people around them. We need to be prepared,” Roman tells her.

Mary doesn’t seem convinced. “I know my Steven isn’t going to hurt anyone.”

“You’re not gonna say that after he bites your head off,” Dean splutters before Roman can do anything.

The look on Mary’s face has just gone from concerned to terrified. Roman inwardly curses. Dean is not the most diplomatic person in the world, but they don’t need this right now. Panicked family members can slow them down, or even hinder them from doing their job. “We’ll do our best. Now if you could just stay there in the corner,” Roman says quickly. “Whatever happens, don’t come upstairs.”

She’s still watching him, wide-eyed, but Roman doesn’t have time for more assurance. He can only hope that she’ll stay the hell away. Dean already walks up the stairs in quick steps. Roman follows him. In front of the door, Roman holds his gun up, while Dean unlocks it and puts a hand on the handle. They nod at each other to signal that they’re ready, and then Dean opens the door.

A deep growl greets Roman’s ears the moment they step inside the room. The window curtains are closed, leaving the room dark. The more severe the infection is, the more they can’t stand the sunlight. Roman blinks a few times to get his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The boy Steven is crouching next to his bed, doesn’t stop growling at them.

“This doesn’t look good,” Dean mutters.

Roman agrees. From what he can see in the dark, Steven’s skin has turned bluish black. “Be careful. Don’t startle him.”

“He’s too far gone, man,” Dean shakes his head, but he does what Roman says. They approach the boy slowly, and the growling becomes louder.

Just when they’re close enough, Steven suddenly launches himself at Roman. _Shit_. Roman uses all his power to push him away, while at the same time trying not to get bitten. Dean grabs Steven’s arm and yanks him. The boy has gotten unbelievable strength, that it requires their combined efforts to get him off Roman.

“The tranquilizer, Dean, now!” Roman sits up, hastily retrieving the gun that fell from his hand because of the impact. Dean nods. But before he can take the syringe out of his pocket, Steven picks him up and hurls him across the room. A painful cry leaves Dean’s mouth as his back hits the wall.

 _Shit._ Roman rises to his feet. He takes his own syringe and stabs Steven’s neck with it, while he still faces Dean. Steven roars, dropping to his knees. Roman uses the chance to pull Dean up. ”You okay?” he asks. Dean grimaces in pain, but he nods.

Just when Roman thinks they’ve got Steven under control, he stands up, letting out another roar. “Fuck, it doesn’t work.”

Beside him, Dean clutches his shoulder. “Just shoot him. He’s gone.”

Roman knows he’s right. He raises his gun, aiming at the boy. But before he can shoot, a shrill voice cries, “No! Don’t shoot him!”

Ignoring the order, Mary has entered the room and now stood between Roman and Steven. “Please, don’t shoot my son,” she pleads.

“Stupid fool,” Dean hisses.

She screams when Steven grabs her head, but Roman pulls the trigger. The impact sends Steven’s body fly backwards and lands on the floor in a loud thud. Mary screams again when she realizes what just happened. She kneels down beside him, covering her mouth with both hands, shaky sobs escapes from between her fingers.

Roman releases the breath he was holding.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t fucking believe her,” Dean mutters, for what must have been the fourth time in the last half an hour. “What the hell was she thinking?”

Roman keeps his gaze on the road. “It’s her son, Dean,” he replies. “Of course she wasn’t thinking.”

All he gets is a grumpy huff. Roman doesn’t say more. He completely understands why Dean is upset at Mary for risking her life. It was stupid and reckless; she could have gotten herself killed. But at the same time he can’t really blame her. It was her son—her flesh and blood. Roman knows how it feels to lose a child.

They arrive at the base before sundown. Curtis is the one guarding outside; he nods at them as he opens the gate. Roman nods back, and Dean gives him a wave. When he drives the car towards the back entrance, he spots Sami and Seth in front of the storeroom, obviously waiting for the supply truck. Roman slows down as he comes closer, seeing Sami smile at them. He, Dean, and Sami often go on missions together, but today he’s on supply-waiting duty.

Then Roman’s eyes meet Seth’s.

There’s something about Seth that intrigues him. Something he can’t quite put his finger on. For someone who almost got killed, Seth is really calm—maybe too calm. The only time Roman saw emotions in his eyes is back in Sector 8 when they rescued him. Other than that he always has his guard up.

“He’s hiding something.”

Roman turns to Dean, who’s also watching Seth. “You think so?”

Dean shrugs. “He hasn’t told us what exactly he was doing in Sector 8 when we found him,” he says. “And nothing he heard about the infected freaked him out, like, you know, any normal person would.”

“Maybe that’s his way of dealing with things,” Roman says, stopping the car on his normal parking spot. “You know everyone is different.”

He feels Dean’s eyes on him. “Are you getting soft, Ro?”

Roman doesn’t really feel like arguing. He’s drained from what happened on the mission, and Dean needs to get his shoulder checked. “I just think we should give him time. Maybe he’ll talk when he’s ready,” he says, pulling the key out of the ignition.

“Fine.” Dean gives another shrug. “Let’s hope you’re right.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Observant Dean is my favourite Dean ;)


	3. Both Ways

“It’s healing up really nicely,” Becky says after removing the stitches from Seth’s arm. “Much quicker than I expected.”

“I tend to heal quickly,” Seth replies. He’s so used to it that sometimes it doesn’t occur to him that it’s not the case for everyone.

She gently dabs the skin with alcohol and then covers it with a light bandage. “That’s a great thing,” she comments, looking up at him when she’s done. “We’ll see how it goes after a few days.”

Seth nods, absently touching his arm. The skin around the wound feels tight but doesn’t hurt anymore. “Thanks.”

Now that his wound has pretty much healed, it won’t take long before he has to decide what he’s going to do. He’ll go to Sector 1 even if it’s the last thing he does. But realistically it’s impossible to do it on his own. If what Sami said is true, he’ll never get an entrance permit as a civilian. Which means his only chance of entering the sector is by joining The Nightbreakers. There’s just no other way.  

And it doesn’t stop there. He’ll have to cross two red zones to get there—one of them is Sector 3, where it all started. Everyone knows it’s the most dangerous sector, with God knows what creatures inside, and people on their right mind will avoid it at all cost. But that’s a problem for another day.

“Will you leave after you’re fully healed?” Becky asks, as if she could read his mind. “Have you thought about staying here?”

Seth raises his eyes to look at her. “A bit,” he admits. “Though I’m not sure I’ll be that much useful for you guys. I have neither a military nor medical background like most of you do. I was just a gym teacher.” He heard from Sami that Roman and Dean were in the army together, while some others like Nia, Curtis, and Kevin worked in the police department.

“Well, it depends. Are you a good cook?” Becky asks and laughs when she sees Seth’s face. “’I’ll take that as a no. But really it’s no big deal; you’re young and have a good physique. If nothing else works out, you can always work with Emma in logistics.”

“I’ll think about it,” Seth says, giving her a faint smile.

Becky smiles back. “I saw you with Lola the other day. You made her look happier,” she says softly. “We’re often too busy to stay with her, unfortunately, with a lot going on every day. I appreciate what you’re doing for her.”  

Seth does spend a lot of time in the Q lab—mostly because it’s a good place to collect information about the virus and the vaccine, and how the medical team treats the infected. But he also genuinely likes talking to Lola. And sometimes Jimmy and Naomi will join them.

“It’s the least I can do.” He averts his gaze to the box next to Becky’s desk. “Do you get your medicine supplies from Unipharm?”

She follows his gaze. “Yeah, almost all of our medicines come from them.”

Just like he thought. “Right, I won’t bother you any longer,” he says, rising to his feet. “If you need me, I’ll be in the Q lab.”

Becky nods then starts to clean the table from the remaining pieces of bandage and cotton balls she used to treat Seth’s wound. “Talk to Eric when you’ve made up your mind. Or Roman—he’s Eric’s second in command.”

Seth won’t talk to Bischoff if he has other options, so Roman will have to do.

“I will.”

 

* * *

 

“Does it still hurt?” Lola asks as she watches Seth absently rub his bandaged arm for the third time. It’s something he does a lot without noticing.

He lowers his hand and smiles at her. “It’s a lot better now. Maybe in a few days I won’t have to wear a bandage anymore.”

She seems to like that. “Do you think if I wear bandage people would stop staring at me?” she asks, sounding curious.

The innocent question makes Seth’s heart ache. This little girl should be outside playing in the sun, instead of lying here in a bed with needles attached to her skin. “Like a mummy?” He tries to make his voice light. “Don’t you think people would stare even more at a mummy?”

“At least they can’t see my blue skin,” she replies. “So they don’t know I’m sick.” She looks at Seth with her big, green eyes. He doesn't want to think about those eyes turning black. _God forbid_.

Forcing a smile, Seth gently shakes his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. What if your mom doesn’t recognize you anymore?”

Lola looks thoughtful. “You’re right. I don’t want Mommy to not recognize me,” she says.

“Why shouldn’t I recognize you?” A voice is heard behind him. Seth turns his head to see Nia stand in the doorway, with a smile on her face—and Roman standing behind her.

“Mommy, you’re early.” Lola’s face lightens up as she sees her. “Hi, Roman,” she adds.

Roman gives her a smile. “Hi, sweetheart.”

Standing up from the chair, Seth moves to give them space. Nia smiles at him. “We finished quicker,” she says, leaning down to kiss Lola’s forehead before caressing her light brown hair. “Now why shouldn’t I recognize you?”

Seth gets a feeling that he doesn’t want to hear more. It’s like he’s interrupting an intimate moment between them. He turns around before Lola replies, and his eyes meet Roman’s.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” he asks. He didn’t plan to talk to Roman this soon, but Nia and Lola should have their moment alone. Besides, it doesn’t make any difference if he talks to him today or tomorrow.

Roman looks like he doesn’t expect that, nevertheless he says, “Sure.”

“I’ll see you later, Lola,” Seth tells Lola, who nods and lifts her hand to give him a weak wave.

Nia looks at him. “Thank you, Seth,” she says, sounding genuinely grateful.

“Don’t mention it,” Seth replies before following Roman out of the room.

 

* * *

 

Roman is not a poetic person by any means, but this silence that stretches between them is loud and profound. Outside the room he can vaguely hear footsteps and people’s voice talking, but they feel far away.

“I’m sorry?” Seth blinks, his brown eyes fixed on Roman.

Meeting his eyes, Roman can’t help wondering, _how can such pretty eyes look so cold?_ He saw something flash in Seth’s eyes when he asked the question a moment ago. But whatever it was, it disappeared before Roman could take a closer look.

“I asked where you were going, that day in Sector 8,” Roman says.

Seth’s expression doesn’t change, but he leans back on his chair as though he wants to put a distance between himself and Roman. “Is that necessary?” he asks. “Do you interrogate everyone who wants to join you?”

Roman hears a slight defensive tone in his voice, and he remembers what Dean said about Seth hiding something. “I won’t consider this an interrogation,” he says. “But let’s be honest, we don’t know anything about you, except that you lived in Sector 9 and your family died from the virus.” That was what Sami told him. “In this group we trust each other with our lives. I have to know if I can trust you.”

Seth gives him a shrug. “Where I was going is nothing important. I’m here now, and I’d like to stay.”

“Are you hiding something?”

Another shrug. “Honestly, I’m not sure I can trust you, either,” Seth says, lightly rubbing on his bandaged arm. Roman notices he does that a lot. “I don’t know much about you guys.”

“All you have to do is ask.”

Seth blinks and tilts his head, lips slightly part, looking genuinely surprised. “Really?”

Roman can’t help noticing how beautiful he is when he doesn’t hold his emotions back. “Yeah,” he says, pushing the thought away. He’s not gonna let himself be distracted. “But in return, you’ll answer everything I ask you. It’s only fair, isn’t it? Trust goes both ways.”

Seth is quiet for a while as he deliberates. Then slowly he nods. “Are you funded by the government?”

It’s not a question Roman expected him to ask. “I guess you can say that. The government pays us a lot for dealing with the infected. In Dean’s words it’s because ‘we’re doing their dirty work for them’. Other than that we get some support from other organizations for food supplies, weapons, medicines and stuff like that.”

“Like Unipharm sends you medicine supplies?” Seth asks.

Roman isn’t sure why Seth is interested in those things, but he nods. “Yeah, they do.”

Seth stares at Roman before asking another question. “Do you get direct orders from the health department?”

“No. We’re not owned by them or any other departments,” he says. “They don’t have a say in what we’re doing, although they might benefit from it.”

When Seth has been quiet for some time, Roman asks, “Do you have any more questions?”

Seth shakes his head. “No.”

He sounds a little bit uncertain, but he doesn’t look away. For a moment Roman says nothing. _Beautiful._ It’s the only word that comes to his mind when he looks at Seth’s eyes. Without the usual cold wall, they’re simply beautiful. Then he realizes what he’s doing. _What is that?_ Roman isn’t one to get distracted easily. This has never happened before.

He must not be the only one being distracted, because Seth blinks and lowers his gaze, leaning back on his chair, putting a distance between them once again. Clearing his throat, Roman is about to say something when the door's slammed open and Xavier’s flustered face appears.

“Roman, an emergency in the Q lab,” he says, sounding out of breath.

Instinctively, Roman rises to his feet and storms out the door. In the Q lab there’s already a crowd in the restricted section. Preparing himself for the worst, Roman pushes past the crowd until he sees Eric and Tye in one of the rooms. As soon as he opens the door, his ears meet a scream of agonizing pain.

It’s the violent guy he and Sami brought in a few days ago, fighting to break free from the straps. Big droplets of blood run over his mouth, down his chin.

“What the hell happened?” he asks.

Eric’s face is grim when he turns to Roman. “He almost bit his own tongue off,” he explains.

“Holy shit.” Roman stares wide-eyed at the guy who doesn’t stop bleeding. “Why haven’t you stopped the bleeding?” The guy lets out another painful scream that sends a chill down Roman’s spine.

Eric shakes his head. “I couldn’t sedate him with the amount we normally use. It didn’t work. Tye increased the dose, but it still didn’t work.”

Beside him, Tye looks worried. “That’s the highest I can give. A higher dose will kill him.”

 _God._ Roman feels his heart clench when another scream pierces his ears. “Well, can’t you guys do something before he bleeds to death?”

Eric’s face is hard when he looks at the guy. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do to stop the bleeding.”

Tye averts his gaze from Eric to Roman. “I guess… we’ll have to put him to sleep,” he says tentatively.

“No,” Eric counters in a firm tone. “I’ve made a little progress with his infection.”

Roman shakes his head in disbelief. “Eric, _he's dying_. Show him some mercy.” When Eric is still hesitating, Roman raises his voice. “Eric, please!”

Finally, Eric nods. Tye rushes out of the room and comes back seconds later with a syringe in his hand. He takes a deep breath and walks closer to the guy. Roman steps forward and takes a hold of the guy’s arm. It’s not an easy thing to do because he keeps straining against the strap, purple veins bulging in his arm. Tye winces as he presses the needle against the vein.

It only takes a few seconds before the guy stops moving, his head falls back against the chair. Roman exhales, letting go of the limp arm. When he turns around to leave the room, he sees Seth. His eyes are fixed on the guy on the chair, with a glimpse of emotions that Roman has never seen before.

 

* * *

 

Roman is completely silent when they leave the lab and back into the empty conference room. When he finally speaks his voice is rough. “I’m sorry you have to see that without a warning,” he says. “An infected can become so violent that we have no choice but to put them to sleep. It’s not often but it can happen.”

Seth merely nods. For someone who’s done this before, Roman looks more shaken than he does.

Running a hand through his black hair, Roman takes another deep breath. “What Tye did was injecting him with—“

“A really high dose of morphine,” Seth cuts him off. “Giving him a painless death.”

Roman looks at him, surprise apparent on his face. “How do you know?”

Seth doesn't reply right away. This is it. Once he tells him, there’s no going back. “Because that’s how my mother died. She got infected and asked me to inject her with it,” he says, blinking as the memory starts to come back. “She was a doctor, ironically.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Roman says.  

“My brother caught the virus, too. Before that,” Seth says again. “The paramedics took him away and he never returned. They said he died under treatment—if there was a treatment at all.”

“Most likely there wasn’t.” Roman’s voice is tinged with anger. “One of the reasons why we do what we do is because the government doesn’t care about the infected. The quicker they get rid of them the better.” He pauses for a second. “But we’ve all been affected by the damned virus, losing our families. We have to do something about it.”

He looks at Seth, and Seth believes him. Not even the greatest liar in the world can fake that sincerity. And he still remembers Roman’s face in the lab, as he held the guy’s arm.

“I was going to Sector 1 that day,” he says. “Nothing mattered to me anymore in Sector 9; everyone I loved was gone.”

“Do you know anybody in Sector 1?” Roman asks.

Seth shrugs. “Yeah, I kind of know some people,” he says. _It’s not a lie_. Only half the truth. Seth can’t tell him the real reason why he wanted to go to Sector 1. Not yet. Roman won’t believe him, or worse he’ll think Seth is crazy. Besides, he might trust Roman, but he certainly doesn’t trust Bischoff.

“Do you have an entrance permit?”

Shaking his head, Seth replies, “No. I guess I wasn’t really thinking.”

Roman looks slightly wary. “Well, then you’re lucky you met us, because civilians aren’t allowed to enter the sector without an entrance permit.”

“I know,” Seth replies.

They’re quiet for a moment before Roman speaks again. “Judging from your physique, you can go on missions, but you must able to use different kinds of guns,” he explains. “So, we’ll train you. We can start once your wound is fully healed.”

Seth looks at him, and before he realizes his lips curl up into a smile. “Does it mean you trust me now?”

The reply he gets from Roman is a gentle shrug. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Seth watches him for a long second, deliberating the answer. “I’m not sure I can trust everyone, yet,” he admits, slightly surprising himself with how truthful it is. “But I trust Becky, Sami, and—you.”

“That’s a good start,” Roman says in a low voice, almost like a whisper. The look in his eyes makes Seth’s heart beat faster, out of control. But he can’t look away.

And it seems like, neither can Roman.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Dean was right about the violent guy, after all.  
> And Roman trusts Seth, but is it the right thing to do?


	4. Hope Makes The World Go Round

In the first weapon lesson with Dean, it’s obvious how clueless Seth is when it comes to guns. They all look similar to him, while Dean looks like he can name them all in his sleep. And they haven’t even started on bigger guns like rifles or shotguns. But Seth is a fast learner; it won’t be any different this time.

“The first thing you need to know is the different firing mechanism,” Dean starts, taking two handguns that look awfully similar. “These two use 9mm ammo. The Proton P99 can hold 15 rounds, and this smaller Flux 15F can hold 13. Both are striker fired semi-automatic, which means they don’t have a hammer that you have to cock to activate the trigger.” He pauses to give Seth time to digest his words.

“So, what you have to do is pull the slide like this—” Dean demonstrates with one of the guns “—and it loads the first cartridge into the chamber, you see, ready to fire.” He points at the opening where the cartridge is visible. “Then every time you pull the trigger to fire, it also loads the next cartridge in, and you do that until you run out of ammo. No need to pull the slide again.”

It doesn’t sound too complicated. “Got it,” Seth says.

Dean glances up at him before continuing. “But it’s different with the revolvers. Most of them are either a single action or double action,” he says. “Actually, it’s very simple. Single action means you have to pull the hammer every single time to activate the trigger. While in double action guns, pulling the trigger the first time will cock the hammer, and you fire by pulling the trigger for the second time.”

He makes an example with a classic-looking silver revolver. “Some people prefer one over the other. I like double action simply because you can do everything by just pulling the trigger, others may feel the opposite. But it also depends on whether you’re shooting short range or long range. The long trigger pull might not work as precise in long range because it can feel less stable.” He strokes the gun with his thumb. “This Manthey Quicksilver is my favorite. Such a beauty.”

It looks nice, especially the silver barrel with the way it reflects the light. But it’s just—a gun. Seth isn’t interested in them at the slightest. Surprisingly, Dean is being patient with him. Seth briefly eyes him as he explains about how the cartridges are stacked in a detachable box magazine. Out of all the mercenaries, Dean has always been a wildcard. He’s not as friendly as Sami but not exactly rude either. Seth’s gut feeling tells him that Dean is not as nonchalant as he lets it show.

But at least it wasn’t Roman. Seth would rather not be alone with him in a small space like this.

“Any questions?” Dean asks, putting the revolver back on the shelf. “Feeling overwhelmed yet?”

Seth gives him a shrug. “I’m good. In the semi-automatic guns you don’t need to cock the hammer to activate the trigger, but only by pulling the slide. In the single action you have to pull the hammer each time before you fire, and in double action you use the trigger to pull the hammer and then to shoot. Isn’t that it?”

“Basically,” Dean says, looking at Seth with interest in his eyes. “You’re as smart as you look.”

Seth can’t help smiling at that. Sami did say that Dean is always blunt. And from what Seth has seen so far, he’s also unpredictable. “Thanks, I guess.”

Dean looks at him for one more second before removing the loaded magazines from the guns. “It’ll be easier to get the hang of everything once you learn how to use them.”

“Alright,” Seth replies. He’s not looking forward to the shooting lessons, but if that’s what he must do then he’ll do it. And he still hasn’t come up with a plan to go to Sector 1, but he’ll cross the bridge when he comes to it.

“How’s Lola doing?” Dean asks as he stacks the magazines in their respective boxes.

It’s a question Seth doesn’t expect him to ask. He stares at Dean’s back, wondering if he heard him right. “Nothing’s really changed. Although—“ he pauses for a second. “No, honestly, I think she’s getting weaker.”

Seth doesn’t need to be a medic to notice the little changes, like how the bluish tone on her skin is slowly getting more prominent, and how she looks tired pretty much all the time. As much as he wishes otherwise, there is no progress.

“That’s what I thought.” Dean places the last box and turns around, looking at Seth. “There is no cure.”

It shouldn’t surprise Seth, coming out of Dean’s unpredictable mouth. But somehow it still does. “Why do you think so?”

Dean’s blue eyes look darker under the artificial light. “Because there isn’t one,” he says, his tone calm yet there’s a grim edge on it. “If there was, it would have been found by now. Eric has been doing research for two years, and he’s not even close to finding it. Yeah, his vaccine works _temporarily,_ but until when? He only delays the inevitable.”

Silence falls between them. Seth stares at him.

“What he’s doing is giving them a higher dose, little by little, everytime their bodies become more resistant to it. How long does it take until the body can’t take it anymore?” Dean goes on, matter-of-factly. “And let’s be honest, Lola is the weakest one.”

Seth’s fingers grow cold as he rubs them on his arm. Everything he said makes sense. _Everything_.

“Is Dean being the sunshine that he is?” Seth almost jumps when he hears a familiar voice. He turns around and sees Roman standing in the doorway. As he walks towards them, the room suddenly feels smaller.

Dean lifts his shoulder in a half shrug. “Nothing but the truth, brother,” he replies. “This so-called cure doesn’t exist.”

“We don’t know that.” Roman says, sounding patient. “I like to think it does.”

From the way Dean gives another shrug, he seems to disagree. But he doesn’t argue. “Anyway, can you run Seth through the shotgun basics? I need a smoke,” he asks.

“Sure.” Roman moves towards the shelf to retrieve some long guns.

Before Seth can say anything, Dean pats Roman’s shoulder and heads for the door, leaving the two of them alone. Roman puts the three guns on the table. “Dean has told you some basic things about handguns, right?” He looks up at Seth.

Seth nods, fixing his eyes on the guns instead of the guy in front of him. If Roman notices that, he doesn’t say anything.

“Shotguns are normally used for short range. Typically 50-100 yards,” he explains. “Depends on the shell type you can shoot longer range, but I don’t expect that from a beginner.” He touches the gun closest to Seth. “This is a pump-action shotgun; the most common and pretty much what everyone here prefers.”

He then continues about how to load the shells and the advantages of the pump-action, compared to the other ones. But unlike earlier with Dean, Seth finds it really hard to concentrate on what Roman is saying.

“Seth?”

Seth’s head jerks up. “I’m sorry, what?”

Roman is watching him, a half smile on his face. “I asked if I went too fast.”

“No, you were fine, I was just—“ Seth is unsure of what to say. “It was my fault, sorry.”

Roman collects the guns one by one. “It’s alright. It’s a lot to take in for someone who isn’t used to guns,” he says. “Let’s call it a day.”

“Thank you,” Seth says. He silently watches as Roman returns the guns. A part of him urges him to leave the room before Roman catches him looking. But another part doesn’t want to budge, transfixed by the way Roman handles the weapons with such ease that only comes with years of experience.

“Do you really believe there is a cure?” he asks before he thinks the better of it.

Roman’s hands stop moving for a second. “I do,” he says, putting the last gun on the shelf. “I get why Dean thinks otherwise, but I like to think there’s still hope.” He turns to look at Seth and says softly, “Hope makes the world go round, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Seth quietly agrees _._

 

* * *

 

Seth’s first thought when he opens the door to the infirmary is that he got the time wrong. Becky is inside, but she’s not alone. Nia is sitting on one of the chairs, Naomi on the other. They turn to look at him, and he notices that they all look gloomy.

“Sorry,” he tells them. “I’ll go back later.”

Naomi shakes her head and gives him a smile. “No, it’s okay. We’re the ones who should leave.”

Seth is still reluctant, but Becky rises to her feet and motions him to get over. “Come on, Seth, let’s take a look at your arm.” Seth has no choice but to step inside and sit down on the bed.

Becky gently removes the bandage and then lifts his arm, examining the wound that has more or less healed. She looks happy with what she sees. “It’s amazing how quickly it heals,” she says, looking at Seth with a smile. “You should still be careful while doing physically demanding things, but it’s not necessary to wear a bandage anymore.”

“Thanks,” Seth genuinely says. “For everything.” She’s always been nice to him.

Becky smiles, giving his shoulder a tender pat. “Don’t mention it. And as much as I like you, I hope I don’t have to treat you anytime soon.”

Seth’s lips curve into a small smile. “You and me both.” He looks down to fix the sleeve of his shirt, and when he looks back up his eyes meet Nia’s.  He’s surprised to see them glisten with tears. “Are you okay?”

A sob escapes her, instead of a reply. Naomi patiently reaches out to caress her back. Wiping the tears with the back of her hand, Nia shakes her head. “Xavier told me he was worried about Lola,” she says. “They had to increase the dose of the vaccine they gave her, because her body had become immune to it. But—“ she stops when another sob takes over. Seth can only watch helplessly.

“But her body won’t be able to take a higher dose than this. If she becomes immune to this one, too, they won’t know what to do. It means… it means my little girl will…” She breaks down, covering her face with her hands. Naomi leans forward and hugs her, her own face also wet with tears. In his peripheral vision, Seth sees Becky brush her cheek.

It’s exactly what Dean said two days ago, and it’s already happening. Seth feels his throat tighten. Coldness seeps through his chest, creeping down his stomach, as well as something else that’s just as strong. _Guilt_.

“We must not lose hope,” Naomi says softly, though her voice is filled with despair. “It’s the only thing we’ve got left.”   

 _Hope makes the world go round,_ Seth remembers Roman said. But hope alone isn’t enough; something has to be done. He always thinks he has more time to come up with a plan of how to go to Sector 1, and maybe everything will work out.

But there is no more time.

 

* * *

 

“Roman, can I talk to you?” Seth asks, as soon as he finds Roman talking to Emma near one of the storage rooms. He doesn’t even apologize for interrupting their conversation.

Roman turns to him. “Can you wait for a bit? Emma and I need to check some supplies.”

“No, I need to talk to you now. It’s important.” Seth catches Emma raise her eyebrows and he doesn’t blame her. He knows he sounds downright rude. “Please,” he adds.

The corridor is silent as neither of them speaks. Just when Seth thinks Roman is gonna say no, he lets out a soft sigh and turns to Emma. “We’ll do this later,” he tells her. She nods and walks away, after shooting Seth a curious glance. Roman turns to Seth with a stern expression on his face. “This better be important.”

Seth takes a long, deep breath. Now that they’re alone, he doesn’t know how to start. Roman is watching him, growing more and more impatient. “Seth, if you don’t—“

“There is a cure,” Seth cuts him off, surprising both of them. “There probably is, or most likely. I’m not sure.”

Roman looks confused. “What are you talking about?”

Drawing in another long breath, Seth tries again. “A long time ago my mother used to work in Unipharm. She told me there might be a cure,” he says. “You must have heard of Hunter Helmsley.”

“Unipharm’s head scientist? Of course,” Roman replies. “But what does he have to do with anything?”

“He’s the one responsible for the virus.”

Roman stares at Seth as if he’s grown a second head. “Are you telling me Hunter Helmsley created the virus?”

Seth looks back at him. “That’s what my mother told me, and I believe her,” he says, with a slightly defensive tone. He knows it’s a lot to ask, for Roman to believe everything just like that. “Since he created the virus, he must have a cure of some sorts. Or at least he’d know about it more than anyone ever could.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Roman asks.

Guilt begins to flood through him once again. “Because I didn’t trust you,” Seth says quietly. _But I do now._

Roman’s jaw tightens. His expression remains hard, but his voice is surprisingly soft when he speaks, almost wistful. “And you expect me to believe everything you said?”

It’s only fair. But time is running out, and Seth doesn’t have any other choice. “Look, you are supported by the health department. I had to be cautious,” he says. “There are some people in power behind this.”

Roman doesn’t reply, but his frown grows deeper.

“Unipharm isn’t just a pharmaceutical company like everyone thinks,” Seth says, locking their gazes. “They experimented with viruses, using them as treatment for cancer patients—approved by the health department.” Roman still says nothing, merely watching him. Seth goes on, “It’s a very risky method and you know what happened. We ended up with this mess.”

The silence that follows feels unnerving. Seth wishes he didn’t have to overwhelm Roman like this, but he has no time for a more delicate approach. “My mother tried to do something about it,” he says. “She knew someone in the health department, who also used to work in Unipharm. Shawn Michaels. He convinced her that he wanted to expose them, too, and she trusted him.” His voice turns bitter as the memory comes back.

“He made an order to send her to a psychiatric ward for questionable mental health. We found out about it and planned to leave before they could take her away.” Seth pauses for a moment, lowering his gaze. “A few days before you found me in Sector 8, she caught the virus. But she made me promise to go to Sector 1 and find out about the cure.” He looks back up at Roman. “You know the rest.”

Roman looks calmer than Seth expected. “It’s not my place to decide what we’re going to do with the information. Eric and the rest of the group need to know,” he says, his eyes never leave Seth’s face.

Seth can feel how his tone has changed; it has become more business-like and colder. There is no trace of softness and warmth, like when he talked about hope two days ago. But Roman has every reason to be angry with him.

_In this group we trust each other with our lives._

“I should’ve told you sooner. I’m sorry,” Seth says. “But we don’t have much time, you have to believe me.”

Roman’s tone is unchanged. “I’m not the one you need to convince.” He begins to move. “Meet us in the conference room in ten minutes.” And he walks away before Seth can say anything.

 

* * *

 

The people in the conference room look either skeptical like Roman, or desperate enough to cling on everything Seth said. Bischoff is the former, but it’s not like Seth was expecting otherwise.

“It’s a serious accusation,” Bischoff says after Seth explained everything. “Unipharm is a very respected company. Do you have any proof to back it up?”

“Only what my mother told me and I believe her,” Seth replies, his tone slightly more defiant than he intended. From the corner of his eye, he sees some people whisper at each other. “Think about it, Unipharm’s headquarter was located in Sector 3 before they moved to Sector 1, and the outbreak started in Sector 3.”

Sami, Dean, and Roman sit next to each other as usual. Sami looks confused and Dean genuinely curious, while Roman’s face remains unreadable. Seth ignores the twisting guilt in his stomach; he doesn’t have time for that right now.

Bischoff obviously isn’t convinced. He looks at Seth, seemingly deliberating what to say. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s a lot to process. You’ve been here for a while and you just told us now. I also can’t help but notice a possibility of another objective,” he says.   

“And what is that?” Seth’s patience with him gets thinner by each second.

“It could be a personal act of revenge on Michaels for betraying your mother,” Bischoff replies, looking at him. “And the health department for taking your brother away.”

Seth draws in a quick breath as he shakes his head. “Look, I’ve already told you why I didn’t say this sooner. After what happened to my mother, I was right to be suspicious. I didn’t trust you,” he says, averting his gaze to Sami and then Dean, before it lingers on Roman, “I do now,” hoping he gets the message.

Roman looks back at him. Maybe Seth’s eyes are playing a trick on him, but something flashes on Roman’s face—something like understanding. But who is he kidding? We see what we want to see.

“What do you guys think?” Bischoff asks, taking a look around the room. His gaze stops on Roman. “Roman?”

When Roman speaks his voice is calm, but there’s an authority in it that can’t be ignored. “Our objective from day one is to do what the government fails to do: finding the cure and helping the infected,” he says. “Now there’s a hope that the cure exists. What does that make us if we didn’t try to find it?”

There are murmurs of agreement across the room that become louder as the seconds pass. Seth doesn’t dare get his hopes too much up, but maybe they will give it a chance. He gives Roman a small, grateful smile. Roman doesn’t smile back, but his face isn’t as hard as it was twenty minutes ago.

“Maybe this is entirely selfish of me, and I won’t deny it,” Nia speaks. “But for my daughter I’ll give it a try, even if the chance is small.” She pauses and says again, sounding dead-set, “Even if I had to do it on my own.”

The murmurs are no longer murmurs as people raise their voices, showing their agreement. Bischoff lets them talk over each other for a moment before lifting his hand. Straight away, everyone stops talking.

“Then it is decided,” Bischoff says. “But we need a clear plan, and we must be extremely careful about it.” He looks at Seth. “Let’s hope your mother was right.”

There’s a hint of accusation in his voice. Seth doesn’t need to be a mind reader to know Bischoff doesn’t fully trust him. But it doesn’t bother him; it’s not Bischoff’s opinion that matters.

Seth stares at Roman as he rises to his feet and heads for the door with Sami and Dean, without even glancing at his direction. Seth blinks, failing to ignore the burning guilt in his stomach. He didn’t realize how much he’s taken Roman’s trust for granted.

Until he lost it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seth revealed his secret, and they'll go for the cure - if it does exists.  
> But it's not gonna be easy to regain Roman's trust, is it?
> 
> PS: Kudos to Uistic for guessing that Triple H is involved ;)


	5. The Weight of The World

In the next two meetings, it’s decided that Roman, Dean, Sami, and Seth will go to Sector 1. They’ll meet with Unipharm’s marketing director, Mick Foley. When Seth voices his concern about the plan, Bischoff says he trusts Foley with his life and that he can’t be involved.

“He’s an honorable person,” Bischoff tells them. “He’s the one helping us with never-ending supplies of medicine, everything we need to treat the infected.” Although it’s hard for Seth to believe that someone with such a high position doesn’t know about the whole virus mess, he doesn’t have a choice but to follow the order.

The plan is to meet with Foley in person in Unipharm’s headquarter and tell him everything they know. Then Foley will decide what to do next. But before that they have to go through two red zones that are Sector 3 and 4. Both are dangerous, especially Sector 3. It has been a red zone for two years and everyone avoids it at all cost. Nobody even wants to enter it.

“No one knows how many infected people are left in there,” Sami tells him. “And if they kill each other—which they do for sure—the dead ones return as zombies. Have you seen an infected who’s turned into a zombie?”

Seth shakes his head.

“Every part of them is rotten; their skin, their flesh, their teeth. Everything,” Sami explains with a wince. “And their bite is lethal. It would infect you in a matter of seconds; no cure in the world would help. We have to be extremely careful when we encounter them.”

Seth would be lying if he said it didn’t frighten him, but at least he won’t be alone. He knows that Dean and Sami are capable soldiers, and so is Roman. Like before, just the thought his presence brings a weird sense of security. Although he’s still giving Seth the cold shoulder.

“Your shooting lesson with Roman is starting today, isn’t it?” Sami asks, as if he could read his mind.

Reluctantly, Seth nods. “Not sure why he wants to do it, considering he’s still angry with me.”

Sami gives him a sympathetic smile that Seth doesn’t feel he deserves. “Roman comes from a military family, who values honesty very highly,” he explains. “But he’ll come round. Without you we wouldn’t know about the possibility of the cure.”

“You’re not mad at me for not telling you about it sooner?” Seth asks curiously.

“You gotta do what you gotta do.” Sami’s tone is warm and kind. “And you’re one of us now.” The sincere trust in his eyes touches Seth, and at the same time makes him feel bad. His gut told him from the start that Sami is a good person. But he chose to ignore it and even used him to get information. Like a good person that he is, Sami told him everything without second thought. His kindness is more than what Seth deserves.

“Thank you,” Seth tells him. “I appreciate it.” _More than I can tell you._

Sami replies with a grin as he pats Seth’s shoulder.

But it doesn’t stop there. Apparently Sami isn’t the only one feeling that Seth has done something good. When he goes to see Lola later that day, Nia, Naomi and—to his surprise—Lana are waiting for him in her room.

Nia is sitting next to Lola’s bed. “You have to be careful,” she tells him as she gently strokes Lola’s hand. “It’s really important to learn how to handle weapons.”

Despite not feeling like it, Seth gives her his most reassuring smile. “I know.” He can already imagine how bad he will be at using guns, but he doesn’t say it out loud. He’s not gonna make them even more worried.

“Thank you, Seth,” Naomi says, reaching out to touch his arm. Beside her, Lana looks as emotional as she normally does.

Seth shakes his head. He definitely doesn’t deserve their gratitude. “I haven’t done anything,” he protests, starting to feel overwhelmed. Maybe it’s such a long shot. _Maybe there is no cure._ He doesn’t want to think about coming back without a cure and having to see a devastated look on their faces. God forbid.

Naomi smiles, her face more hopeful than Seth has ever seen. “You gave us hope when we were close to losing it.”

Seth disagrees with her, but before he can open his mouth Lana speaks up. He realizes this is the first time he ever hears her speak. “I never thought I’d feel this hopeful about Rusev. Never,” she says in a melancholic tone. “Thank you.”

Her eyes begin to glisten and Seth has to look away. He doesn’t know what to reply to that. Or to Naomi’s words about hope. Maybe he should just leave, before he said something he would regret.

“Will the cure make my skin less blue, Seth?” Lola suddenly asks, saving Seth from the requirement to reply.

His little savior. Seth forces himself to smile. “I think so.” His eyes meet Nia’s and she smiles at him, while keep stroking Lola’s hand. An unspoken hope is apparent in her eyes, too.

Their hope feels so heavy on his shoulders. He inwardly prays to everything holy that he won’t have to shatter that. Unipharm started this mess; they must know how to fix it. Seth’s gaze falls on Lola’s oddly serene face. _They better_.

 

* * *

 

His already foul mood is only getting worse as the day goes on. The first shooting lesson is more disastrous than Seth thought it was gonna be—if that’s possible. Although he has learned about the basic mechanism of the different guns, using it is a different story. His shots are way off, even on short range. He’s tried to aim in the middle of the target, but the moment he shoots the pressure will change the direction of the bullets, sending it off the target. Way off. Every single time. After a bunch of _perfectly_ missing shots, Seth is getting frustrated.

Roman is watching him, hasn’t said anything other than a few instructions at the beginning of the session. Seth wonders if this strained silence between them is affecting his awful performance. He bets it is.

“Your hands should be steadier,” Roman breaks the silence. “And when you pull the trigger, don’t move anything else but your finger. Try it again.”

Seth does what he said. Or at least tries to. He keeps his hands as steady as he can when he pulls the trigger. It hits the edge of the target but not the actual marked area. He closes his eyes and exhales sharply. Maybe it’s not gonna work. Did he really think he’d master the guns in such a short amount of time?

“You’re very tense.” Roman’s comment makes him open his eyes. “Don’t overthink it, just aim as best as you can.”

Seth drops his hands and turns to face him. “Well, we don’t have much time, do we?” he snaps, the frustration has gotten the better of him. When he realizes what he’s said, he lets out another breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout.”

Roman watches him with an unreadable gaze. “Nobody expects you to shoot perfectly in two days,” he says. “But you must be able to use the guns, in case Sami, Dean, and I are unable to cover you.”

The thought of them getting severely hurt sends a chill down his spine, but Seth quickly brushes it out of his mind. He can’t worry about that right now. Roman steps closer to fix the way he holds the gun, and the moment Roman’s fingers touch his hands, Seth feels a weird, electrical jolt on his skin. He almost drops the gun.

Then he looks up at Roman. As it happened before, he finds himself unable to look away when their eyes meet. Roman’s face is only inches away from his, making his heart beat hard against his ribcage. He sees Roman draw in a quick breath before letting go of his hands.

“Show me that you can reload,” Roman orders, not meeting Seth’s eyes.

Seth absently pushes the button on the gun that will release the magazine, then attaches a new loaded one. Roman gives a curt nod, briefly glancing at him. Disappointment creeps through Seth’s chest when Roman walks a few steps away to adjust the target.

“Meet me here again after lunch,” Roman says again. The sound of his footsteps echoes in the room when he walks away.

 

* * *

 

“I can take over the shooting lesson with Seth if you want,” Dean offers, when he and Roman are sitting for lunch. “If you’re still mad at him.”

Of course Dean notices. He always does. Roman averts his eyes from Seth who sits at the other table with Naomi and Becky. He seems quiet. Everytime Roman’s gaze lands on them, he’s either eating his food slowly or listening to whatever Becky or Naomi is saying with a distant look on his face.

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

Cutting a carrot in half with his fork, Dean gives him a one shoulder shrug. “I ain’t saying you’re wrong, man,” he says matter-of-factly. “But if you look at it from the kid’s perspective, he got a reason to be cautious.”

Roman knows that. But it doesn’t make it right to lie. Roman has told him nothing but the truth and he expected the same from Seth. “He said he trusted me but then lied to my face, Dean,” he says. “It bugs me, making me constantly wonder if there is more he’s not telling us.”

“Yeah, I get you. Guess, time will tell.” Dean puts his fork on the plate, looking up at Roman. “The offer still stands, though. I got nothing to do after this, except maybe some sparring with Sami.”

Roman gently taps his back. “It’s fine, I’ll do it,” he says. “Thanks.” But right after the words leave his mouth, he already wonders if he’s doing the right thing. Roman isn’t dense. He knows there’s something going on between him and Seth. Something that causes him to take Seth’s lie more personally than everyone else does. Something that makes him feel concerned about Seth’s shooting skill and whether or not he can improve radically in time.

“Alright, your call,” Dean replies, leaning back in his chair. “Not gonna lie, though, I’m kinda excited for this mission. Can’t wait to kick some zombie ass.” He grins. “Let’s see if this cure really exists.”

Roman can’t help but smile at that. “As long as you don’t get yourself killed,” he jokes.

The reply he gets is a playful eye roll. “Me? No way. It’ll take more than a bunch of dead people to kill me.”

“Good cause I’m not losing you, too, brother,” Roman tells him. Dean has been more than his friend all these years. He’s family. Roman met him when they both joined the army, almost eleven years ago. And since then they’ve always got each other’s back. Always.

Dean gives him a lopsided smile. “Nah, you’re stuck with me for life.”

Roman smiles back. “I don’t mind that.”

When Roman goes back to the training room, Seth is already there, his fingers absently fiddle with the gun. He looks up, his brown eyes big and wistful, making Roman feel things he wish he doesn’t. Perhaps Dean was right. Seth did have a reason to be cautious. But he can’t shake off the thought that there are probably more secrets.

“Are you ready to try again?” Roman asks.

Seth merely nods. Roman decides to see if he can reload quickly under pressure, because it’s something he must be able to do. He lays five magazines on the table and tells Seth he has ten seconds to shoot until he runs out of ammo and then reload as fast as he can.

Predictably, it doesn’t go smoothly. Seth takes too long to shoot, and when he clears the gun he’s unsure if there are more ammo and keeps pulling the trigger, unnecessarily wasting time. Then when he presses the magazine release button, he holds the empty magazine instead of letting it drop on the floor. It takes him nearly 20 seconds to complete the task.

Seth knows he did badly. His face flushes as he looks at Roman, waiting for the verdict.

“Dreadful,” Roman comments dryly. “In real life you wouldn’t even have half the time.” He picks up a gun from the table to demonstrate how to reload quickly. “When you release the empty magazine, just let it drop on the floor.” He shoots all his 13 rounds and reloads in four seconds flat.

He puts the gun back on the table and turns to Seth. “You have to be able to do these things—for your own safety,” he tells him, sounding more concerned than he intended. “Do it again.”

Seth blinks and looks at him for a long second before turning back to the target. Roman starts the time again. He does it a bit faster this time, which is about 15 seconds. And the same for the next few attempts. Roman wants him to keep going until he can do it in less than ten seconds, but then Sami appears.

“Are you guys not done yet?” he asks. “It’s alright, I can wait.” It’s planned that he’s gonna train Seth in self-defense, but the gun lesson is taking longer than Roman expected.

“Go ahead,” Roman tells them. “We’ll do this again later.” If it was up to him, he’d rather not have Seth leave before he can shoot significantly better, but self-defense is not less important.

 

* * *

 

Two days later, Eric calls Roman, Dean, Sami, and Seth for a meeting. He asks for the progress of Seth’s training and Roman gives him his report.

“He’s doing well in the self-defense training with Sami,” Roman says. “Very athletic and great stamina. But he needs more time with the guns.” He glances at Seth, who’s standing next to Sami. “There is a progress, but not as much as I’d like.”

Seth lowers his gaze, but it’s the look on Eric’s face that concerns Roman. He is calm, as always, but his glum facial expression says a lot. “Well, unfortunately we don’t have that luxury,” Eric says. “You guys have to leave tomorrow.”

“What?” Roman shakes his head. “Eric, we can’t. Seth isn’t ready.”

Eric looks at him. “Lola’s body has shown signs of resistance to the higher dose vaccine,” he says. “I’m afraid we don’t have more time.”

The room is dead silent. Sami and Dean look at each other.

“I’ll be fine,” Seth suddenly says, despite Roman’s disapproving frown. “We can leave tomorrow.”

After watching him for a second, Eric nods. “Make sure everything is ready,” he says, looking at each of them in turn. “Tonight we’ll go over the plan one more time.”

As they leave the conference room, Roman stops Seth by grabbing his arm. “Come with me,” he says. Dean and Sami stop on their tracks to look at them, but Roman doesn’t stop to explain. It can wait.

He leads Seth to the training room. “Shoot and reload,” Roman says, putting some loaded magazines on the table.

Seth doesn’t seem surprised that Roman took him there. He must know how desperately he needs to improve. The first and second attempts were okay, but they’re still over 12 seconds. On the third attempt, he fiddles too long trying to attach the magazine to the gun. The fourth one is better with a bit over ten seconds. But it’s still not good enough. Roman holds up his hand when he’s about to do the fifth attempt. Seth lowers his hands and looks at him.

“I don’t know how to put this lightly, but you’re still a few seconds off the mark,” Roman says, rubbing his forehead. “Those few seconds can be the difference between life and death.”

Seth’s eyes look dejected when he stares at Roman. “I’m gonna put all of us in danger,” he murmurs. “Because I’m useless at guns.”

“We’re not gonna let that happen,” Roman says, firmly at first and then his voice softens. “I’m… we’re gonna keep you safe.” It surprises himself how much he means it.

Seth blinks, keeping his gaze on Roman. “What should I do?” he asks, after being quiet for a moment. “To make you stop being angry with me.”

It’s not what Roman expected to hear. He feels like he’s being caught off guard. And what is he supposed to say? “Tell me the only reason why you want to go to Sector 1 is to get the cure,” he says, slowly. “That revenge has nothing to do with it.”

“Only for the cure,” Seth replies, sounding truthful.

Roman looks into his brown eyes, trying to find any trace of lies. But he can’t find any. Either Seth is telling the truth or he is an excellent liar. Roman hopes it’s the former.

“Are there more secrets you’re not telling me?”

Seth watches him for a second before saying, “No,” already turning around before Roman can read his face. He lifts his gun and aims at the target, briefly looking at Roman over his shoulder, waiting for him to start the time again.

Roman presses the button. “Go.” When Seth is done, Roman looks at the time. “A bit over nine seconds,” he says, can’t suppress the relief in his voice. “Well done.”

He places the device on the table and when he lifts his head, Seth is looking at him. “Thank you,” Seth says quietly, almost inaudibly.

Roman finds himself nod. He probably shouldn’t let Seth off the hook this easily, but he wants to think there is no more reason to lie. _Are you getting soft,_ he remembers Dean asking a while back. Seth’s lips curve into a small smile, his eyes gentle and trusting. Roman feels his chest tighten as he looks at him.

_I guess I am._

“Do it one more time,” Roman says, trying to regain control. “Just to make sure.”

Seth obediently nods and turns to face the target once again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everybody's hope is heavy on Seth's shoulders. And Dean was right. _Again._  
>  Roman's feeling is clouding his judgement. But will it come back to bite him?


	6. From Ashes to Ashes

Maybe it’s because he’s heard so many terrifying things about Sector 3, but Seth can feel something eerie in the air as soon as they enter the sector. Even Sami and Dean who had been talking most of the time go quieter.

Before they entered the sector, Sami and Dean were pretty relaxed, with Sami talking about how it had been two years since he saw Sector 1. But now they seem more alert, as though a switch has been flipped. On the driver’s seat, Roman is gripping the steering wheel, his gaze focused on the road in front of them. The tension emanating from them rubs on Seth, making him clutch the gun on his lap.

To Seth’s surprise, things have gone smoothly since they left Sector 7. They departed early in the morning after packing everything they’d need, like weapons, fuel, water, and food. Roman estimated that if everything went to plan they’d arrive in Sector 1 before sundown. Once they are there, they’ll spend the night at Sami’s family’s place and go to Unipharm’s HQ in the morning. The drive through Sector 4 was without any problem; there were only two infected people in sight and they weren’t trying to attack them.

Now they’ve been driving inside Sector 3 for more than ten minutes without seeing a single moving creature. Seth doesn’t know why, but the absence makes him uneasy. It feels like a trap, as if the zombies are quietly watching, waiting for them to drop their guard down. The atmosphere in the car is tense. Dean and Sami have stopped talking, and all Seth can hear is the sound of the engine and his own pulse drumming in his ears.

“Shit!” Roman curses, making Seth jerk his head back. “Lots of debris. It doesn’t look good,” Roman says again, turning the car to the left to follow the curved road.

Before anyone responds, Seth feels his body being pulled by an unseen force, his seatbelt pressed tightly against his chest. The tires screech loudly when the car suddenly comes to a halt.

“Dammit.” This time it’s Dean who swears.

“The road’s blocked.” Roman’s voice is laced with annoyance and a hint of trepidation. “We gotta find another way.”

Through Dean’s shoulder Seth peeks at the windshield. Wreckage of cars completely blocks the road, making it impossible to get through. Pieces of metals and glasses are scattered all over the ground, as far as the eye can see.

Next to him Sami shifts on his seat, looking worried. “Be careful with the debris,” he warns.

“Yeah,” Roman grunts, exhaling soundly as he reverses the car. He turns the car around and drives back to the curved road, taking the opposite direction. He’s only driven for a few minutes when a similar view materializes in front of them.  Roman bangs the steering wheel with his fist. “We don’t have time for this.”

Seth’s heartbeat is racing a million miles per hour. He knows things won’t stay trouble-free; it was too good to be true.

Roman reverses the car again, but before it makes it back to the previous corner Seth can hear a loud noise from outside and then the car begins to slide to the right. Roman swears loudly as he turns the steering wheel to keep the car on the road. When the car continues to slide towards the grass he brakes hard, throwing everyone forward. Seth winces when he feels the seatbelt strap cut into the skin of his shoulder.

The car finally stops moving. Roman unbuckles his seatbelt and gets off the car, followed swiftly by Dean and Sami. Their movement feels too quick for Seth as he’s still trying to process what just happened. Taking a deep breath, he opens the door and climbs out. The first thing he sees is Roman kneeling near the front tire, his face grim. Sami and Dean are standing behind him, looking equally gloomy.

“Punctures on both front and rear tires,” Roman says, briefly looking up to meet Seth’s gaze. “Some sharp metal objects must have sliced through the compounds.“ As Seth averts his eyes to the tires he sees that they are almost completely flat. The rear tire has a visible, deep cut about five inches long.

Seth blinks, looking back at Roman who’s risen to his feet. “Don’t we—have spare tires?”

“One,” Dean replies. “There was only space for one.”

Sami lets out a sharp breath. “We were more concerned about packing adequate fuel,” he says, sounding angry at himself. “Should’ve brought more spare tires instead.”

Silence stretches between them as they all drown in their own thoughts, before Roman speaks with a commanding tone. “Listing what we should’ve done isn’t gonna help us. We gotta get going.” He opens the trunk. “Take everything we need; water, some food, and make sure you have enough ammo.”

As Sami helps him pack his backpack, Seth notices that the sun is already low behind a cloud, casting yellow glow on their surroundings. His throat is tight with dread, his fingers cold as he places the straps of the bag over his shoulders. But he forces himself to listen as Roman gives another order.

“Alright, listen up. The border gate is about nine miles away. Stay close to each other,” he says. Sami and Dean nod, while Seth feels like his body is on autopilot. Roman moves closer to him and asks in a softer tone, “Do you still have your morphine?”

Seth absently nods, putting his hand inside his vest pocket and feeling the syringe. He doesn’t want to think about using it to any of them. Roman watches him, understanding crosses his face.

“It’s only a precaution,” he tells him gently. ”Are you ready to go?”

Seth gives him another nod, despite the uneasiness in his stomach. The longer they stay there the more time they’re wasting. Roman fixes his gaze on Seth’s face for one more second before turning around and motioning them to follow him.

 

* * *

 

This is the worst scenario Roman can think of. No matter how fast they walk, they’re not going to make it out of the sector before dark. Sami and Dean are behind him; he can hear their effective, almost identical footsteps on the silent road. Seth is walking next to him since Roman insists to keep him as close as possible.

The siren that signals the start of the curfew has long stopped working here, but he doesn’t need it to know that the curfew hours have started. This silence that surrounds them isn’t gonna last long, Roman can feel it. Like a confirmation, he hears a rustling noise from the trees on their left side.

“Move faster,” Roman hisses, picking up the pace. In his peripheral vision, he sees Seth tightly grip his gun as he half runs beside him.

They’ve only moved for less than a minute when Roman hears a collective noise—a number of breathy snarls that grow louder by each second. Roman stops on his tracks, quickly followed by the others. The noise comes closer, and then he sees _them_ , emerging from behind the tall bushes on the roadsides, dragging their rotten feet across the grass.

Roman’s first instinct is to reach over and push Seth behind him. More zombies appear, starting to block their path.

Roman and Dean fire almost at the same time, taking down the ones closest to them. Sami shoots the ones on their left. The bodies drop on the ground one by one. “Come on!” Roman barks, pulling Seth to run with him. They run along the road until they approach a junction and take the road on the right.

“Stay on the road,” Roman gives another order. They keep running until they meet another junction. The one on the right is a dead end street, so he chooses to go left. It leads them to a big, abandoned park with tall, drying grass, overgrown bushes, and trees. It’s going to be harder to spot the zombies here, but they can’t go back. The fastest way to get back to the main road is by crossing the park. Roman knows there is a shortcut at the other side that will take them there. It’s the only option they have.

He slows down and stops, raising his hand. “We have to go to the other side of the park, but keep your eyes open.” He turns to Dean. “And be careful.”

Dean replies with his usual smile. “You know I’m always careful.”

The sun is close to setting, leaving only faint orange light behind the clouds. They must leave the park before it’s completely dark. A few steps across the tall grass, Roman picks up the unearthly growl again. He does a quick scan of their surroundings as they move carefully. They weren’t prepared for this situation, having their tires punctured. Being out in the open like this isn’t ideal; Roman silently prays that they’re not going to run out of ammo.

“Look out!” Sami pulls Seth to the side as a number of zombies emerge from behind the trees. Seth raises his gun and shoots. He doesn’t hit them perfectly in the head like Sami, Dean or Roman would, but it still brings the zombies down after several shots.

More zombies appear from the other directions, attracted by the gunshots noise. Roman trusts Sami to cover Seth because he can’t shoot and worry about him at the same time. He takes care of the zombies who are closing on him and Dean, using his shotgun to eliminate a few with a single shell, while Dean takes down the ones further away with his precise revolver.

Roman’s body stiffens when he hears a scream from behind him. He turns around, knowing that Dean has his back. What he sees makes his heart stop. Sami is kneeling on the ground, blood flowing from a wound on the side of his neck.

“No, no, no.” Seth drops to his knees and reaches out to touch his arm. “No, Sami, you—can’t… Please.”

Sami looks up at Seth and growls. Cold dread crawls up Roman’s stomach when he sees that Sami’s eyes have turned black; purple veins begin to grow visible on his skin. “Seth, move back!” He snatches Seth’s arm, pulling him up.

Seth’s gaze is solely fixed on Sami it’s as if he doesn’t hear Roman. Feeling Dean’s presence next to him, Roman turns to meet his eyes. He sees pain—and understanding that there is no way to get their friend back. Dean puts his hand inside his vest pocket and slowly retrieves his morphine. Roman’s throat feels tight as he nods.

Dean walks closer to Sami, who’s still on the ground, gnarling at them. When Seth sees the syringe in Dean’s hand he shakes his head and tries to break free from Roman’s grip.

“No! You can’t do that,” he yells at Dean, pulling his arm that Roman’s still holding. Seth looks at Roman and his voice falters. “Roman, he—you can’t.” He tries to wrench his arm free one more time to no avail. “Please.”

“Sami’s gone,” Roman’s voice is low. “We have no other choice.” He feels his heart ache as the words leave his mouth. Sami was loyal and dependable, never let him down—not even once. But the creature with black eyes that flashes his teeth at them is not Sami. Not anymore.

Dean gets distracted by Seth for a bit too long. Before he can react, Sami pounces on him, pulling him down. It all happens so fast that Roman almost doesn’t realize what he’s doing. By instinct, he drops his shotgun, grabs Seth’s handgun and shoots.

Sami’s body jerks from the impact before going completely still.

Roman pushes his body off Dean, kneeling next to him. “You okay?”

Dean sits up, but Roman can sense that something isn’t right. His face is pale under the weak, last stream of sunlight. When he looks up, Roman sees his face harden.

“Dean, what—“

Roman stops as Dean lifts his arm, and it’s as if someone just hit him on the head with a sledgehammer. There is a bite mark on Dean’s arm, blood droplets dripping out of it. His veins are getting more visible, darker under the skin of his arm. Unmistakably purple.

“No…” Breathing hard, Roman shakes his head slowly, then more forcefully. It can’t be happening. It can’t be. When his eyes meet Dean’s, he sees the dark circles around the eyes.

Dean winces, but he keeps his gaze on Roman. “You know what to do,” he murmurs, in a voice that doesn’t sound like his.

Roman’s voice is choked up in his throat. “Dean…” He jerks when he feels something being thrusted into his hand. He looks down and sees the syringe that Dean was holding. His chest hurts when he realizes what Dean wants him to do. “I can’t—“

“You have to. I’m not turning into them,” Dean says, softer than Roman feels he deserves. “I’m not.”

“No.” Roman flinches when Seth kneels down beside him, touching Dean’s hand. “You must hold on. We’re—we’re gonna get the cure. Hang in there,” Seth tells him.

A slow smile crosses Dean’s face, despite still wincing in pain. “Can’t wait that long, kid.” Then he averts his eyes back at Roman. “Please, brother.”

Roman feels his hand shake as he holds the syringe, opening the tube. Next to him, Seth is weakly shaking his head. Roman gently presses the tip of the needle on Dean’s skin, but he’s unable to push it forward. As he blinks, hot tears fall, blurring his vision. Dean is watching him with a pained expression on his face. Seconds pass and Roman’s hand is still hovering over the skin. The world around them seems to slow down.

Then Roman hears a sharp intake of breath and before he can do anything, Dean pushes his hand down, pressing the needle into the vein.

Roman can only watch as Dean’s body goes slack. He blinks, looking up at Roman one more time before slumping against him, eyes closed.

 

* * *

 

It’s as if Seth is walking through clouds. All he feels is coldness. His body moves absently as he follows Roman, but everything feels numb.

Roman’s eyes are red but his steps are steady, like he’s completely back in control. After burning Dean’s and Sami’s bodies he drags Seth out of the park, telling him they’ll find a place to stay because it’s a lot safer to continue in the morning. Now that only the two of them left.

The sun has gone completely down, replaced by the moon in its crescent shape. As they get closer to a house, Roman turns on his flashlight, lighting up the property. It’s a two stories house with a large lawn. The front side of the house is still completely intact, but the roof has some holes.

The front door is sealed shut, so they walk across the lawn to find another way in. The backdoor is also locked, as Seth expected. But Roman motions him to stand back and then he shoots at the keyhole, opening the door. It leads them to the kitchen. Roman shuts the door and puts a chair under the handle so that it can’t be opened from the outside. He tells Seth to wait and be alert of any noise while he goes to check the rest of the house. He comes back a moment later, saying it’s clear.

The living room is dusty, like everything else in the house. The couch is covered by a thick white fabric that protects it from the dust, so is the wooden table. Seth can’t help thinking about the people who used to live here; where they are now, and if they’re still alive. They kept everything neatly wrapped, probably meaning to move back once the virus is contained.

Seth grips the back of one of the chairs at the dining table and pulls it, disentangling himself from his bag before tossing it to the floor. He sits down on the hard surface just as Roman enters the room with two candles in his hands.

“Found these in the kitchen,” he says, lighting the candles after putting them on the table.

Seth wants to reply, but his mouth feels dry. And there is something thick in his throat that blocks the words from coming out. So he merely nods.

Roman watches him as he sits down across the table. “Drink your water,” he orders, taking a water bottle from his bag. Seth absently reaches for his backpack and retrieves his bottle. Then under Roman’s gaze he drinks half of the content.

A rustling noise from wrapping foil fills the room as Roman rips his protein bar open, motioning Seth to do the same. Seth does it just so his hands have something to do. They eat in silence. The fire on the candles gently flickers, casting subtle, yellow light across the room. Roman’s face is only half illuminated by the flame, leaving shadow on the other half.

“I’m sorry,” Seth suddenly finds himself say. “I—I was the one insisting to go to Sector 1. If it wasn’t for me, Dean and Sami wouldn’t…” he trails off, feeling his chest tighten once again.

“It’s not your fault,” Roman replies in a soft voice. “We all want the cure.”

Seth draws in a deep breath. “But I should’ve been better at guns,” he insists. “Sami wouldn’t get bitten.”

Roman’s voice is still soft when he speaks again, but at the same time it’s firm. “Sami and Dean knew this mission is highly dangerous. They were aware of the risks. We all are.” He looks at Seth, his grey eyes looking dark in the flickering light. “If something happens to me, you have to shoot me and move on. Find Foley, he’ll help you go back to the base,” he says. “Promise me.”

Seth shakes his head. “Nothing will happen to you.” He bolts upright, pushing the chair backwards. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

He feels Roman’s gaze on his back as he crosses the living room and stops under the staircase, isn’t quite sure where to go. Behind him he hears the wooden floor creak under Roman’s boots and then a sound of a door being opened. Seth turns around to find Roman in front of a room.

“The broken roof has ruined the bedroom upstairs, but this one is alright,” Roman says. “Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up in the morning.”

Seth hesitates for a second. “What about you?”

“I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Their eyes meet again. Seth nods, doesn’t feel like arguing. He walks past Roman and enters the room. It’s not big. It only has one bed and one desk. The bed is also covered in a thick protection fabric like most of the things in the house.

“Do you want a candle here?” Roman asks.

Seth knows once he closes the door, the room will be pitch-black. But maybe that’s what he needs right now. “No.”

Roman looks at him for a moment before slowly closing the door, taking the light with him.

 

* * *

 

For the last many days the dream has always been the same. The creature he met in Sector 8 would slash his neck and leave him drown in the pool of his blood. Seth would stand next to his own body, paralyzed, watching the life being drained from him. But this time the one staring back at him is not himself. It’s Sami. His eyes are wide open as he touches his bloody neck. He doesn’t say anything to Seth, but his gaze says everything.

_It’s all because of you._

Seth opens his mouth but no words come out.

_You killed me._

He notices another body behind Sami, lying unmoved. Dean’s skin has turned into a gradient of black and blue, his eyes tightly shut. Shaking his head, Seth looks back at Sami again, at the face that once was gentle and kind, but now hard and unforgiving.

_You killed him, too._

Seth can’t breathe. The air is suffocating; the pain and guilt that grip his stomach are unbearable. He reaches out to get a hold of something—anything. But there is nothing.

“Seth,” he hears a voice in the dark, then feeling something solid and warm against his body. “Hey, it’s okay.”

His eyes snap open. Flickering light comes through the half-open door, softly illuminating Roman’s face as he looks down at him. “It’s only a dream,” he says, placing a hand on Seth’s face.

Seth blinks, doesn’t take his eyes off him. He clenches his fingers around Roman’s vest, pulling him closer, afraid he would disappear in a second. Roman says nothing as Seth buries his head in his chest. He puts an arm around him, resting his hand on the back of Seth’s neck.

They stay like that in silence. Seth can only hear their breathing, and the faint sound of Roman’s heartbeat under his vest. It feels like time has stopped.

“I saw Sami. His eyes told me it was my fault,” Seth murmurs. “I saw Dean, too. His skin had turned black and blue, like the rest of them.”

He hears Roman sigh softly. “It’s only a dream,” he repeats. “Try to go back to sleep.”

“Please don’t leave.” Seth clutches Roman’s vest tighter. “Just—just a little longer.”

Roman doesn’t say anything, but he shifts slightly on the bed for a more comfortable position. Seth closes his eyes as he listens to Roman’s steady breathing. It feels soothing. As if it makes him forget everything and believe for a moment that the world isn’t ending.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then there were two.


	7. The Cure

A gentle stream of sunlight on his face wakes Seth up in the morning. He blinks to get his eyes adjusted to the light, while remembering what happened last night. Roman is still sleeping next to him, some strands of black hair are covering his cheek. Before he’s fully back on his senses, Seth reaches out and boldly brushes the hair away from Roman’s face; something he wouldn’t do if they were both awake. He feels something warm creeping in his chest as it dawns on him that Roman stays with him through the night.

Slowly, Seth fixes his gaze on Roman’s face. Even in his sleep he still looks somehow tense; his lips are pressed together and there’s a faint frown between his dark brows.

After Seth fell back to sleep the nightmare didn’t return. Roman’s presence chased away the cold dread that twisted in his stomach and calmed him down, even if just for a little while. The guilt still remains, but he knows it’s not going anywhere.

The material of Roman’s vest feels a bit rough under his fingers as he gingerly trails his hand along the seam. Then a gentle intake of breath makes Seth raise his head. His heart beats faster when he sees that Roman’s eyes are open, watching him. He pulls his hand back. For a moment their eyes locked in silence, until Seth blinks and lowers his gaze to Roman’s collarbones.

“Thank you for not leaving,” Seth says in a low voice.

He hears a soft, rustling sound from the pillow when Roman moves his head. “You okay?” Roman asks, still looking at Seth.

“Yeah,” the reply comes out as a whisper. He debates with himself whether or not he should look up to meet Roman’s eyes. But the temptation is too strong that Seth gives in after a few long seconds. Grey eyes are staring deep into his own, and as usual it’s hard to decode the emotions behind them. Seth guesses he isn’t the only one having his guard up.

But he supposes it’s different. Roman has been a soldier for years and was probably raised as one, too, given his family’s military roots. It’s obvious from how quickly he held himself together after Sami and Dean were gone, despite the agony he must have felt.

“I’m sorry about Sami and Dean,” Seth says before he changes his mind.

A small wince crosses Roman’s face as he lays his head back down on the pillow, averting his eyes to the ceiling. He is quiet for some long seconds that Seth thinks he’s not going to say anything at all. But then Roman lets out a deep breath and says, “Sami never let me down, not even once. He was the kind of person you would immediately trust because he was so kind. And genuine.”

That’s also how Seth felt about Sami. He nods slowly, even though Roman isn’t looking at him.

“Dean was“—Roman pauses, clenching his jaw—“my brother. I’d do anything for him, just like he’d do anything for me.” His voice is still calm, but pain is evident in every single word.

Feeling his stomach twist with hot guilt, Seth places his hand on Roman’s chest. He doesn’t want to think about what he’s doing, although it feels like the right thing to do. After one long second, Roman puts his hand on top of Seth’s. They stay like that for a moment, until Seth breaks the silence, barely above a whisper.

“Do you trust Foley?”

Roman is still looking at the ceiling. “Not really,” he admits. “But Eric trusts him, and I trust Eric.”

Seth doesn’t know what to reply to that. He doesn’t trust Bischoff; there’s just something about him that doesn’t feel right. But he can’t say that to Roman. Not now anyway, when they’re in the middle of an important mission. And he supposes Roman doesn’t have a reason not to trust Bischoff. Seth is about to pull his hand back when something crosses his mind.

_Are there more secrets you’re not telling me?_

The guilt is crawling up his throat. Darting his gaze on Roman’s face, Seth lets out a shaky breath. Roman turns to him. And for a split second Seth almost opens his mouth and tells him that there is one remaining secret—the biggest of them all. But he can’t bring himself to do it, for the same reason why he can’t tell Roman that he doesn’t trust Bischoff. And another reason which is entirely selfish.

_He wouldn’t forgive you if he knew._

The look in Roman’s eyes softens when he meets Seth’s eyes. “I mean what I said yesterday,” he says. “If something happens to me you know what you gotta do. Even if Foley can be trusted, there are still other people in power behind this, like you said.”

Seth didn’t want to think about it yesterday and he still doesn’t. Just the thought of losing Roman leaves him out of breath. His world has already fallen apart since he lost his brother, but Roman is the last piece that’s still holding it together, giving him a little hope that the world is not yet ending. He tightens his grip on Roman’s vest, can’t tell Roman what he wants to hear.

When Seth hasn’t replied after a moment, Roman says again, “I said I’ll keep you safe. And that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Seth pulls his hand from Roman’s grasp, causing Roman to wince. “I’m not gonna let one more person die because of me. Not you.” He shakes his head and repeats, ”Not you.”

Their eyes meet in silence, then Roman slowly reaches out and touches Seth’s face, brushing his thumb along the skin of his cheek. Seth’s breath is caught in his throat as he looks into the captivating eyes. Time seems to slow down. But then all too soon, Roman pulls his hand back.

“We need to get going.” He sits up and rises to his feet, brushing some hair off his face. “Eat something before we leave.” 

Seth watches his back as he opens the door and leaves the room, already missing the warmth of Roman’s hand on his face.

 

* * *

 

They get to Sector 1 without any problem, and not one single zombie in sight. Roman says they mostly come out after sundown because they can’t stand the sunlight. Despite that, he’s still being constantly alert on everything, even on the sound of rustling leaves when the wind blows through them.

Before they go to Unipharm’s headquarter, they dropped by to Sami’s family’s place and explained why they didn’t come yesterday. It was heartbreaking to see how Sami’s mother broke down after hearing that he was gone. Tears were pouring out of her eyes as she leant on her husband for support. Sami’s father was more accepting; it was as though he had seen it coming.

“I knew this would happen sooner or later, dealing with those creatures every day,” he said, holding his weeping wife. His face was hard but his hand slightly shook as he ran it over Sami’s mother’s arm.

“I’m sorry,” was all Seth could say, even though it was far from enough.

Sami’s father looked him in the eye. “It’s either we lose him this way or by the virus, isn’t it?” he murmured. “What a mad world we live in.” He then quietly said his wife needed to lie down, and it was the cue for Roman and Seth to leave.

When they approach the headquarter memories begin to resurface in Seth’s mind. The building isn’t the same as the one he knew in Sector 3, but it looks exactly the same, from the white wall to the dark tinted windows, and the letters on the wall that makes up the Unipharm logo: yellow for the ‘U’ and shiny black for the rest. The all-too-familiar view makes his stomach tighten with an uneasy feeling. Roman glances at him for a second before heading for the entrance. Seth exhales and follows him.

The dark haired woman behind the reception desk eyes them when they enter the building. “How can I help you, gentlemen?” she asks, her gaze flickers to their gear and the gun in Seth’s holster, but her voice is completely neutral.

“We’re The Nightbreakers,” Roman replies. “We have an appointment with Mick Foley.”

The woman doesn’t hide the interest in her eyes as she continues to watch them. Seth looks at her nametag, which reads ‘Paige’.  Bischoff had notified Foley about their arrival, although he didn’t reveal why they need to see him. It has to be done in person.

“Mr. Foley has been in a meeting since this morning,” Paige says, straightening up on her chair. “There is an emergency situation in one of our factories that requires a quick handling.”

Seth glances at Roman, starting to feel nervous. This is unexpected. He wonders what Roman is gonna do about it.

Roman’s face doesn’t change, but Seth senses his body stiffen. “We have to see him today, it’s important.”

The authority in his voice is unmistakably clear that there’s no way Paige would miss it. She looks at Roman for a second before lifting a finger, motioning them to wait. Then she picks up her phone and speaks to someone in a low voice that Seth can’t pick up. He lets out a nervous breath, making Roman turn his head.

“It’ll be okay,” Roman murmurs softly, that only Seth can hear it.

Seth wishes it was right, but he knows better than to trust any of the Unipharm people. Despite that he gives Roman a gentle nod. Maybe he’s right and Foley is trustworthy. At this point they don’t have any other option than to talk to him. There is no plan B.

A door on their right opens and two muscular, bald guys in all-black attire emerge, one of them towers over the other. Roman shifts slightly, keeping Seth behind him as he stares at them.

“Gallows and Anderson, our security guards, will take you to one of our labs while waiting for Mr. Foley,” Paige says. “I suppose your visit is about the medicine supplies that we provide?“

“You can say that,” Roman replies, never taking his eyes off Gallows and Anderson.

Paige gives him a smile, nevertheless. “Excellent. I’m sure our researchers would love to hear about your vaccine development,” she says. “May I ask your names?”

Roman glances at her for a second. “Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.”

After quickly writing it down on her computer, Paige looks back up. “To follow the procedure, I must ask you to leave your weapons here. I hope you understand.”

For a moment it seems like Roman isn’t gonna do it, but then he exhales and places his gun on the desk, gently nodding at Seth. Mirroring what he’s doing, Seth retrieves his gun and puts it next to Roman’s. After that their bags are being put down on the floor. Paige reaches for the guns and places them behind her desk with ease, looking like it’s not her first time handling weapons.

“All right, gentlemen, they will show you the way,” she says, motioning them to follow the guards

 

* * *

 

Gallows and Anderson lead them through wide corridors with closed doors. Every door looks similar, with no distinct characteristics. Vaguely, Seth remembers where he walked down a corridor like this one a long time ago, though technically it’s not the same place. The guards keep a fast, consistent pace, making it impossible for Seth and Roman to slow down and talk.

As they approach the end of the third corridor, Gallows and Anderson stop in front of a door, beckoning them to come closer. “This is one of the main labs,” the shorter one—his ID card reads Anderson—says. “Go ahead; Paige has informed the researchers about you. One of us will come back to get you when Mr. Foley is done.” He opens the door and they don’t have a choice but to enter.

The lab is spacious. It has benches and desks, with things like microscopes and other instruments on them. Cold storages are placed neatly along the back wall, filled with tubes of different colors liquid. The gentle hum of the machinery feels familiar to Seth, as well as the distinct smell of alcohol mixed with a little bit of bleach. At the far end of the room, there is a glass door that’s currently closed, also looking familiar.

Seth notices there are three white-clad scientists in the room. One of them, a guy with long dreadlocks, is sitting by a desk, looking at something under the microscope. Another one is holding a tube in his hand, drawing some of the liquid inside it using a pipette. His bald head contrasts with his long, reddish beard. The third scientist rises from his seat and approaches them.

“You must be the ones from The Nightbreakers,” he says. Now that he’s standing, Seth can see that he’s almost as tall as Gallows. “I’m Luke. This is where we do our basic research for the medicines; feel free to look around, but please don’t touch anything. If you have any question just ask me or the others. That’s Bray, and that’s Erick.” He motions at the scientist with long dreadlocks, and then to the other one with bald head and reddish beard.

“What research are you doing?” Roman asks. He looks calm as usual, although Seth knows he never lets his guard down.

Luke also seems to be fully alert, despite his friendly tone. “Mostly about the genetic markers of different diseases, also sequencing and manipulating genes,” he explains. “I’ve heard that your leader Eric Bischoff created a vaccine that can delay the development of the virus, which is impressive.”

Roman casually shrugs. “Someone has to do it, right?”

If Luke catches the sarcastic tone, he doesn’t comment on that. Instead he smiles and says, “He must be a gifted scientist.”

“He is.” Once again Roman shrugs.

Luke smiles faintly at that before walking towards the cold storage and starts checking on the tubes. Roman moves further from him and the other scientists, wordlessly telling Seth to follow him.

“It seems we have to wait here,” he murmurs softly. “Just keep your eyes open and be careful with what you say.”

Seth nods, knowing full well that he’s right. He can’t let his personal emotions get in the way and put the mission in danger. Whatever he feels about Unipharm, they’re only here to get the cure. His gaze shifts on Luke who’s still standing in front of the storage, then to the other two. Maybe it’s because he already made up his mind about Unipharm people, but there is something about these scientists that gives him chills.

He’s about to tell Roman that when the glass door on the far wall opens, and another person in a white coat walks in. Someone that makes Seth’s blood run cold.

Hunter Helmsley himself. _In the flesh_.

Memories begin to flow back, strong and overwhelming. Seth wants flee the room, but at the same time he feels an urge to pounce on him and hit him senseless for everything that has happened. He clenches his fists, forcing himself to keep it together. He can’t afford to ruin their mission. Roman moves closer to Seth, as if wanting to shield him from the newcomer.

Hunter’s gaze lingers on Roman for a second before he averts it to Seth. Something flickers in his eyes as he takes in Seth’s face. _No,_ there is no way Hunter will recognize him. The last time he saw him was more than eighteen years ago. But the way Hunter stares at him almost makes Seth shiver.

“So, you’re the mercenaries Paige was talking about,” Hunter says in his deep voice, still fixing his gaze on Seth. “I’m Hunter Helmsley. And you are?”

After a moment, Roman replies curtly, “Roman Reigns. And this is Seth Rollins.”

Hunter tilts his head slightly. “You look familiar. Have we met before?” he asks, looking at Seth.

Seth swallows and then shakes his head. “I—don’t think so.” He can feel the tension in his stomach. To his relief, Luke is back and says something about their vaccine.

“I told them we’ve heard about Eric Bischoff’s vaccine,” Luke says. “An impressive thing, isn’t it?”

“It clearly is. I only met him once, but I can tell he’s great at what he does,” Hunter replies, sounding genuinely interested. “But as far as I know, the vaccine doesn’t cure but only delays the development of the virus.”

“Well, it’s been two years since the outbreak. Someone had to do something,” Roman counters, but his tone remains polite enough. “At least it helps.”

A cold, calculated smile tugs at the corners of Hunter’s mouth as he turns to Roman. “It does. But I suppose at some point the infected will become resistant to the vaccine, and by then it can’t help them anymore.”

“Do you believe there is a cure?” Seth blurts out, before he can stop himself. It makes Roman, Hunter and Luke turn their heads to him. The other two scientists in the room suddenly stop what they’re doing. Roman throws him a warning glance, and cold fear creeps through Seth’s stomach when he realizes what he had said. But it’s too late to take it back.

Again, Hunter’s gaze flickers to his face, making him regret asking. “I don’t believe. I _know_ there is a cure,” he says.

Seth feels his pulse quicken. But he takes a deep breath and reminds himself that he should be very careful when it comes to Hunter Helmsley. Next to him, Roman frowns as he looks at Hunter.

“Does it mean you have it?” he asks, carefully.

The look Hunter gives him is contriving; he knows exactly what he’s doing and Seth doesn’t expect anything less from someone like him. Instead of replying, Hunter crosses the room, approaching the red bearded scientist whose name is—Erick or something. Erick shows him a tube containing some blue liquid which he examines for a second before nodding.

“I did.” Hunter turns around to face them again. “But not anymore.”

It starts to become too much for Seth to digest. He glances at Roman, who’s still staring at Hunter. “Right, let me get this straight,” Roman says. “Did you say you found the cure but you don’t have it anymore?”

Hunter holds his gaze. “Someone took it away from me. Someone that I trusted,” he says, slightly narrowing his eyes. “The woman I loved.”

Seth’s eyes widen. He can’t believe what he just heard. It’s—impossible.

“Not only she left me, she also took my greatest creation with her,” Hunter goes on.

“Won’t she, I don’t know, give it back?” Roman asks, looking just as bewildered. “Are you not going to find her for the sake of mankind?”

Hunter waves his hand dismissively. “She’ll come back looking for me once she realizes what she’s done,” he says. “That is if the virus doesn’t get to her first, which will be something she deserves.”

Seth has heard enough. He shakes his head and snaps, “Stop it!” surprising everyone in the room. “Don’t—don’t talk about her like that.” His voice is shaking with anger.

“Seth, what—“ Roman asks but Seth cuts him off, forgetting everything else in a rush of blood to the head.

“She would—would never steal anything from you. And she left more than eighteen years ago.” He swallows, breathing hard. “You’re a fucking liar.”

A knowing smile slowly spreads across Hunter’s face. He fixes his gaze on Seth’s eyes. "I knew you look familiar... You finally come back to me,” he says, his tone soft, almost longing. “Tyler.”

The name sounds like poison in Seth’s ears. He tries hard not to flinch. “I’m not Tyler,” he retorts. “I’m Seth.”

“So where is Stephanie?” Hunter ignores it. “Is she too ashamed to show her face again?”

“She died,” Seth says bitterly, feeling the hurt of losing her all over again. “Because of your fucking virus.”

Something crosses Hunter’s eyes—something like pain. But Seth might as well imagine it because it’s already gone when he looks closer. No. He refuses to believe that Hunter Helmsley is capable of feeling any human emotion.

“Well, she shouldn’t have left me,” Hunter says, confirming Seth’s thought. “She got it coming.”

Seth is about to launch himself at him to shut his mouth, but Roman quickly holds him back. “Seth, what’s going on?” he asks. “Do you know him?”

Before Seth can reply, Hunter beats him to it. “Did he lie to you about who he is, too? Must have gotten the trait from his mother,” he says with a sinister smile.

“Have you been lying to me?” Roman asks again. “Seth?”

“Stop calling him Seth,” Hunter interjects, sounding impatient. “His name is Tyler Helmsley.”

Roman is so taken aback that he releases his hold on Seth. His eyes are wide, filled with disbelief and confusion, and slowly but surely… anger. He takes a step backward, shaking his head. “Did you plan all this—for us to take you here?”

The hurtful anger in his eyes makes Seth’s heart clench. “I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry.”

It’s as though Roman didn’t hear what he said. “Are you coming here to join him?”

“What? No,” Seth says quickly. “His virus killed my mother and brother. I’d rather die than join him.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Roman asks, still looking perplexed.

Seth looks at him, doesn’t quite know how to put it into words. He should’ve told him this morning. Now it’s too late, Roman won’t forgive him. “I didn’t want you to hate me,” Seth says weakly. “Because you would… if I told you.” He takes a deep breath. “My mother left him because he was insane, experimenting with viruses, toying with other people’s lives. And now we ended up in this mess.” Moving his gaze to Hunter, he says again, “Are you going to deny that you created this hell?”

Hunter doesn’t even flinch at the accusation. “My virus was almost perfect. It would make the human body immune to cancer cells. The outbreak was unfortunate, but it could have been prevented if your mother didn’t take the cure away.”

“Stop blaming my mother for your mess,” Seth snaps at him. The damn nerve. “Tell us where the cure is.”

Bray and Luke come closer, but Hunter raises his hand, making them stop. “I told you I don’t have it,” he says. Another smile appears on his face as he glances at Roman before looking back at Seth. “You do.”

Seth almost thinks his ears deceive him. “What?” He turns to Roman who stares at Hunter with narrowed eyes. “Enough of this mind game. You’re not gonna turn Roman against me,” he says. “Where is the cure?”

There is silence for a moment, until Hunter dramatically sighs. “All right. I’ll show you that I’m right.” He gives a small nod to the scientists standing near them.

Before Seth has time to decipher what he meant, suddenly Bray and Luke close up on Roman and hold each of his arms, while the third scientist Erick sneaks up behind him and injects something into the side of his neck. A syringe with clear, blue liquid in it.

It all happened so fast that Seth could only watch in horror, his body completely petrified. “What—what are you—“ he stammers, his heart beating a million miles per hour. “What the hell did you give him?”

The two scientists release Roman and he drops down on the floor. He winces as his hand goes up to touch his neck. Seth instinctively rushes to kneel down in front of him, holding his shoulder.

“Roman? Are you—“ he never finishes the question when he sees the veins in Roman’s neck. They’ve gotten darker. Seth’s breath hitches in his throat. _No_. This can’t be happening. He grabs Roman’s hand and looks at the skin on his arm, at the purple veins that twist under his skin. And a faint blue tint that’s starting to show.

Seth’s fingers shake as they trail over the soft skin of Roman’s wrist. He blinks, feeling his eyes hot. “No… not you,” he whispers, gently at first and then gets louder. “Not you.” He looks up and his eyes meet Hunter’s. “You don’t even know him...”

Hunter’s face is completely emotionless when he speaks. “I had to show you I was right.” He nods to Bray once again. “I’m always right.”

Bray kneels down and pulls Seth’s hand, pressing something onto the skin. A sharp, cold metal pierces his skin, making him gasp. Seth is too shocked to react. His first thought is that he got injected with the virus, too, but then he sees that instead of injecting something, Bray is filling the syringe with his blood.

Then just as Seth is about to open his mouth to speak, Bray turns his attention to Roman and grabs his arm, injecting his vein with the blood he just retrieved. Roman doesn’t try to pull his arm back; either he’s too weak or too taken aback to do it.

Seconds pass. The atmosphere in the room is thick with anticipation as everybody’s eyes are fixed on Roman. Seth doesn’t know what they expect to see. His body is numb and his brain refuses to think. So many things happened so fast, too fast. He reaches out to put his hand on Roman’s face when he notices something.

Roman is still wincing, but his veins aren’t as dark as they were minutes ago. Seth is afraid his eyes are deceiving him, but as he looks intently at Roman’s skin, the blue tint is slowly disappearing. Seth almost forgets how to breathe.

“Amazing,” he hears Hunter murmur. “Absolutely amazing. Bray?”

Seth just notices that Bray has moved to the desk near them, looking into the microscope. “Unbelievable. I’ve never seen leukocytes like these before,” he says in awe. “You did it.”

“What—what did just happen?” Seth asks, feeling his head hurt. “Why did you give Roman my blood?”

Hunter moves his gaze to him. “Don’t you get it, Tyler? Your blood _is_ the cure,” he says, sounding pleased. “Erick injected your friend with the virus and your blood neutralized it.”

“But how could I—” Seth shakes his head. “Wait, did you say Roman isn’t infected anymore?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Hunter replies impatiently.

Seth touches Roman’s face, can’t help the sigh of relief that escapes his lips. Roman isn’t infected, that’s what matters. Roman looks at him, his breathing shallow. It must be too much to take for him, too.

“I knew you are my greatest creation,” Hunter says, more to himself. “It took years of putting the virus into your body, little by little, until your immune system absorbed it and created a one-of-a-kind cell barrier.”

Only then it dawns on Seth what Hunter is talking about. The relief he feels is replaced by disbelief, then confusion, and followed by horror. He pulls his hand from Roman’s face and presses it against his own chest. “You… experimented on me for years?” he asks. “But I remember nothing. Did—did Mom know about it?” He can’t imagine his mother would let Hunter do it to him.

“Of course not; she wouldn’t understand. Women can’t see the bigger picture,” Hunter says, almost disdainfully. “From the moment you were born, until you were about eight. I was extremely careful and discreet, I would never harm you. But then Stephanie found out about the cancer treatment we did using the virus, and she didn’t want anything to do with it. She wouldn’t expose us if I agreed to give you up. So I did.”

It’s still hard for Seth to believe that Hunter developed the virus using his body. So that’s why Seth heals quicker than everyone, and that he doesn't get tired easily. Everything makes sense, but at the same time it doesn’t. His mother had told him about Hunter’s obsession with finding a cure for cancer, but Seth wouldn’t think he could do that to his own flesh and blood.

“After the outbreak she wanted to confront you about the cure,” Seth murmurs absently. “But your old friend Shawn Michaels betrayed her.” His voice turns hard as he says the name.

If Hunter still cares even a bit about her, he’s great at hiding it. His face remains emotionless.

“She would never understand,” he says. But then his tone surprisingly softens as he continues, “But you Tyler, you’re special. Together, we’ll create things others can only dream about to improve human race.”

“Seth, don’t,” Roman speaks for the first time since he got injected, his voice rough. “They’re gonna use you.”

Hunter lets out a short, condescending laugh. “And who do you think you are?” he says. “If it wasn’t for his blood, you’d still be infected.”

Despite his weakened state, Roman stares back at Hunter with his chin up. “If it wasn’t because you wanted to play God, none of these would happen in the first place.” He turns to Seth. “Go. Find _him._ ” His voice is gentle, but it’s an order nevertheless.

“I’m not leaving you,” Seth insists. God knows what these people would do to Roman. There is no way he’s gonna leave him with them.

“In case you haven’t noticed, there are four of us and two of you. Do the math,” Erick speaks for the first time, a smile playing on his lips. “And only Tyler is valuable to us.”

“Seth, go,” Roman urges him.

Seth shakes his head. He can’t. But Roman is right; they have to get out of here and find Foley. Quickly, he scans the room, trying to find something—anything—he can use, wishing he had his gun with him. His gaze falls on a flask on the desk near Bray. Doesn’t have time to rethink what he’s doing, Seth crashes into Bray and sends him down to the floor. The scientist hits his head on the hard tile, the impact leaves him unconscious. Then Seth grabs the flask and slams it against the desk, leaving sharp edges on the remaining half.

Everyone freezes on their spots. Seth presses the sharp glass onto Bray’s exposed throat. “Stand back,” he tells them. “If you come closer I swear to God I’ll slit his throat open.”

“You won’t,” Hunter says, although there’s a slight doubt in his voice.

Seth stares at him, pressing the glass deeper. The sharp edges graze the skin and small droplets of blood begin to appear. “Yeah? Try me,” he challenges. “Move back to that glass door.”

After a moment of hesitation Hunter backs away, followed by the other two. They stop in front of the glass door across the room. There should be enough time for him and Roman to leave. He takes Roman’s hand, pulling him up.

“Come on,” he says as he rises to his feet and puts Roman’s arm around his neck. Erick moves towards Bray to check on him, and Seth doesn’t wait until the other two approach them. It’s not easy to pull Roman’s weight, but he half drags him towards the door and opens it with his elbow.

Still clutching the flask, Seth heads to the end of the corridor and chooses the second door. His heart pounds wildly in his chest. _Come on, let it be the right door_. “We’ll—be fine,” he says, isn’t sure if he’s saying it to Roman or himself. “We’ll get out of here.”

Roman looks at him and nods.

As they enter the second corridor, Seth curses under his breath. He can’t remember which door they went through earlier, all of the doors look the same. And they’re walking too slowly. Hunter and his guys can appear any moment.

He’s about to open the door closest to them when the third door on their left opens. Anderson’s familiar face emerges from behind the door, and Seth couldn’t be happier to see him. Anderson looks taken aback, surely doesn’t expect to see them there, then his gaze falls on the half broken flask in Seth’s hand.

“What happened to you two?” he asks, his mouth agape. “Did you—“

“We need to see Foley,” Seth doesn’t let him finish. “Please.”

Anderson’s gaze lingers on the flask for a second before he looks up at Seth, giving him a curt nod. “Follow me.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At least they found the cure...


	8. Salvation

Roman has never felt so weak and helpless in his life. More than anything, he hates it. He hates not being able to protect Seth—and himself. Protecting people is what he does. It’s something that comes as naturally as breathing. He despises the way he has to cling onto Seth who’s a lot smaller than him, knowing he slows both of them down. When they have walked for a few minutes, Roman’s grip on Seth loosens and he slips down, nearly falling on the floor. Anderson stops on his tracks and turns around, offering to help him. But Seth stubbornly shakes his head and tells him to keep going while he pulls Roman back up. It’s probably not the wisest thing to do, but Roman understands his hesitation of trusting another Unipharm person. He would've done the same thing.

On their way to the office, Seth has discarded the half flask he was holding to not scare off Foley. Roman notices he looks exhausted when they enter the room. He helps Roman sit on one of the chairs, almost tumbling on top of him.

Mick Foley doesn’t look like a typical corporate manager. He’s wearing a red and black plaid shirt and black trousers. His shoulder-length, dark hair is unruly around his face, making him look messy. As if it’s not enough he also has thick, full beard covering half his face. But as he fixes his gaze on them, his eyes are sharp and bright. He nods at Anderson who quietly leaves the room.

“Is he all right?” Foley asks, looking at Roman. His voice sounds like how it should in Roman’s head: loud and gritty.

Roman raises a hand, putting it on his chest. His breathing has gone back to normal and the burning sensation in his veins slowly faded. Not long after he got injected it was like his veins were on fire. His whole body ached, as if a thousand needles were pricking his skin over and over. Is that what the infected are constantly feeling?

“He’ll be fine.” He hears Seth say, while still catching his breath. “Helmsley got him injected with the virus,” Seth pauses for a second. “But I—my blood neutralized it.”

The surprise on Foley’s face is genuine—either that or the man is a world class actor. His tight, dark eyebrows are pulled together in a frown as he moves his gaze from Seth to Roman, then back to Seth. “You’re… Hunter’s son Tyler?”

It should surprise Roman that Foley knows, but it doesn’t. His instinct starts to doubt what Eric said about Foley not being involved in the whole virus business. How could they be so naïve? There’s no way someone in his position doesn’t know what his company has been doing. Roman reaches out and grabs the edge of the table, trying to pull himself up.

When Seth sees that he gently pushes him back down, shaking his head. Roman lets him.

“You know about me,” Seth remarks in a careful tone as he darts his eyes back at Foley. “Then you must know your scientists have been experimenting with viruses and as a result, we ended up in this mess.”

At least Foley looks honest when he nods. “When I found out about the experiment of using virus for cancer treatment I was against it. I knew that it was risky and something would go wrong. But it was approved by the board; I didn’t have that much power to go against them,” he says, taking a deep breath. “I lost my daughter because of the virus. Maybe it was my karma for not doing anything to stop it.” He pauses and his voice becomes more contemplating. “After the outbreak, the board banned all the virus treatment and we were back to using viruses solely for vaccine research.”

“That’s not the case,” Seth says. “He wanted me to go back being his guinea pig to improve human race; his words not mine.”

Foley is silent for a moment. Roman can practically see the wheels in his head turning.

“Will you help us go back to Sector 7?” Seth asks, breaking the silence, sounding a little nervous.

Foley throws them a conflicted gaze that Roman doesn’t like. “I wish I could… but your blood is very valuable,” he says. “It could be the answer that we need. Hunter—well, our scientists will be able to create a cure to save the infected and end this nightmare.”

Seth looks doubtful, as if he’s contemplating it. Roman can’t let him make a rash decision based on guilt. Whatever Hunter did, it was none of Seth’s fault. He makes an attempt to stand up one more time, holding on the table. This time Seth doesn’t stop him. His eyes are still fixed on Foley.

“No offense, but after what happened we don’t trust any of you,” Roman says. “Eric will figure something out. After all helping the infected is what we’ve been doing this whole time. Unlike you.”

“He might be our only hope,” Foley replies, doesn’t sound offended on Roman’s harsh words. Perhaps because it’s a fact. “I’m afraid I can’t let him leave.”

Roman grips the table harder. “So you’d rather let them do dangerous experiments on him?”

“I’m certain the researchers will be extremely careful. Hunter isn’t going to harm his own son.”

It sounds so naïve that Roman can’t help but let out a disbelieving snort that would make Dean proud. “Come on, you can’t be that dense. He experimented on him. Would you do that to your child?”

This time no reply comes from Foley. Roman says again, “Look, Eric trusts you; show us that you can be trusted.”

The atmosphere in the room is thick with tension—and speculation. Roman can sense that Foley starts to see the truth in what he said, but who knows what he’s going to do. After being silent for a while, Foley shifts towards the phone and picks it up. “Send Cesaro to my office, please,” he says, before putting the phone back, his face unreadable.

Seth turns to look at Roman, his eyes hopeful. Instinctively, Roman moves closer to him. He’s not going to be overjoyed until they’re out of this damned place, since Foley can still change his mind at the last minute. It wouldn’t surprise Roman if none of the Unipharm people could be trusted. But he gives Seth a small, reassuring smile.

“Tell Eric we’ll provide anything he needs for the research,” Foley says, looking at them. “And I’ll notify the board about Hunter and the virus. We can’t risk another outbreak.”

It sounds too good to be true. But before Roman opens his mouth, someone knocks on the door and walks in. It’s another tall guy with bald head wearing a dark blue flight suit. He nods at Foley, briefly looking at Seth and Roman.

“This is our pilot Cesaro,” Foley tells them. “Go with him to the rooftop. He’ll fly you back to Sector 7.”

Roman’s gaze lingers on him for a moment. “Thank you.”

Foley merely gives him a curt nod.

 

* * *

 

The trip back to Sector 7 feels like a blink of an eye. Before Seth can figure out what he’s feeling, it’s over and they’ve already landed. Mostly it’s numbness. A lot has happened in the last 24 hours, from losing Sami and Dean to his blood being the cure. It’s too much for him to deal with that his brain chooses to shut everything down and switches to autopilot. He barely notices Roman holding his hand and doesn’t let go until they land.

But as soon as they get closer to the base, certain emotions overtake him. _Fear_. And guilt. He doesn’t know how people will react when they find out Hunter Helmsley is his father. Will they loathe him for lying? Not to mention for what Hunter did? Every person there has been affected by the virus, one way or another. They won’t take it lightly.

And then there’s Roman… who has lost so many people because of the virus. Seth knows he’s going to hold some grudge against him. He will. Right now he might not feel it because they just dodged a bullet, but he will realize it later, when things have calmed down and he’s got time to think. And Seth honestly doesn’t know what he’s gonna do if Roman turns his back on him.

Cesaro drops them right in front of the gate and flies back to Sector 1. Behind the gate Seth sees Curtis. He looks surprised to see only the two of them but he opens the gate nevertheless, letting them in. Roman has gotten most of his strength back and he can walk normally again. He smiles gently at Seth, who feels his heart clench.

Maybe this is the last time he sees Roman genuinely smile at him.

 

* * *

 

The mood is divided when they—mostly Roman—have explained everything. It’s like there are dark clouds hanging in the room over the loss of Sami and Dean. Seth can hear a few sobs, making him feel even worse. If only they knew then what they know now about the cure.

They might not be able to save Sami, because he got bitten by a zombie _. Their bite is lethal. It would infect you in a matter of seconds; no cure in the world would help,_ Sami once told him. But Dean… he didn’t have to die. They should be able to help him—if they only knew.

At the same time, there is undoubtedly anticipation if Seth’s blood is really the cure. Bischoff and Xavier have run some tests on Roman and declared that he is clear. But until people see it with their own eyes, they’re not gonna believe it.

Nobody has reacted to the fact that Seth is Hunter’s son, though he supposes it’ll come. Right now they’re too occupied with the other things.

In the Q lab that’s packed with people, it’s decided that Jimmy will be the first one to try. Bischoff has extracted some of Seth’s blood and everyone is watching anxiously as he injects it into Jimmy’s vein. Seth sees Naomi bite her lip, seemingly holding her breath. He inwardly prays to everything holy that it will work. He tries not to think about how devastated Naomi would be if it doesn’t work, or that Sami and Dean died for nothing.

After what seems like hours, the blue tint on Jimmy’s skin disappears little by little, followed by the purple of his veins. Xavier presses a device onto the back of Jimmy’s ear; the same device that Roman used to scan Seth the first time they met. It beeps once, sounding harshly loud in the stillness of the lab despite it being full of people.

“Clear,” Xavier says with a breath of relief, a smile appears on his face.

Naomi bursts into tears as she rushes forward to hug Jimmy. She murmurs incoherent words in his ears, while he strokes her back and tenderly kisses her hair. For a moment Seth lets his gaze linger on them, feeling some warmth in his chest. At least they’ll be okay.

Bischoff moves to Lola, who’s sitting on a chair. Nia is standing behind her, holding her shoulders with slightly trembling hands. Bischoff smiles at Lola before taking her small arm and pressing the needle onto the smooth skin. The effect takes longer than it was with Jimmy, but Bischoff says it’s normal because Lola’s body is weaker. When minutes have passed and nothing happens, Seth sees Nia’s hands tremble even more. _God please, make it work_. It has to work.

Then very slowly, almost unnoticeably, Lola’s skin starts to return to its natural color. The scanning process that Xavier did to Jimmy is repeated on her; the result is also clear. Seth releases the breath he’s been holding. _Thank God._ Nia is calmer than Naomi, but tears are streaming down her face as she plants kisses on her daughter’s head. Then she looks up and her eyes meet Seth’s.

“Thank you, Seth,” she says in a shaky voice.

Before Seth can reply, Lola chirps in, looking up at her, “Does it mean I can go outside now?”

Nia laughs, amidst the tears. “Yes, baby girl, you can.”

Seth watches as she leans down to kiss her head once more. Then he jerks when someone hugs him from the side. Naomi wraps her arms around his neck and says repeatedly, “Thank you.” Seth can feel the wetness of her tears on his skin. “We owe you everything.”

Just like he felt when they thanked him before the mission, he’s still feeling unworthy of their gratitude. His father started the mess; he only did what he had to do. There’s nothing to be thankful about. He silently nods.

Naomi holds him for a few more seconds before letting him go. Then she walks over to Lola and Nia, gently stroking Lola’s arm. Seth looks at them; his lips curl up into a smile.  

At least they’ll be okay.

 

* * *

 

The soft knock on his door shakes him off his reverie. Seth reluctantly rises from his bed to answer the door. Roman’s face greets him as soon as he opens the door, with a smile that makes him almost forget how to breathe. When Seth realizes that he’s been staring, he quickly moves aside to let Roman come in.

“Have they let you leave?” he asks, closing the door.

There are no chairs in Seth’s room, so Roman makes his way to the bed and sits down. “Yeah, they said everything’s fine.” Bischoff ordered him to stay overnight in the lab to get a thorough check. It seems that Seth’s blood had fully neutralized the virus in his body.

Seth sits a bit further away, careful not to let their legs touch. It’s odd, how awkward he feels about being alone with Roman when they slept on the same bed two days ago. But it’s different. At that time all they had was each other. Now they’re back in the base where Roman has his comrades—his family—while Seth is _just_ Hunter Helmsley’s son. And it’s just a matter of time before Roman remembers it, too.

“They need me in the lab, is that why you’re here?” Seth asks, looking at the door handle across the room.

“No, I just wanted to see you.” Roman’s voice is soft, yet it demands attention. Seth slowly turns his head to look at him. “You okay?”

The gentle concern in his eyes is too much for Seth and he looks away. This kindness _… it won’t last_. He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, for his heart to break, the moment Roman pushes him away and keeps him at arm’s length.

“Seth?” Roman asks again when Seth doesn’t reply.

Seth lets out a deep breath, feeling an ache in his chest. Yes, he is Seth—not Tyler. He has stopped being Tyler for so many years that the name feels strange, even in his head. “I didn’t know how to tell you,” he says, doesn’t exactly answer Roman’s question. “I was hoping Hunter wouldn’t recognize me. It’s been eighteen years.”

Roman watches him. “How did you get your name?” There is no judgement in his voice, only curiosity.

“Three years after we left, my mom married a man called Daniel Rollins. When he adopted me she wanted to change my name,” he says, his gaze flickers down to his feet. “I was eleven. Daniel had a son who was two years older than me. I was happy I got a brother and a father who cared about me. Hunter was never around much, so I didn’t miss him. Daniel was a good father; he always treated me and my brother equally.”

“What happened to him?”

Seth raises his head. “He died six years ago. Heart attack,” he says. “At least he didn’t have to see this mess.”

Roman keeps his gaze on him, saying nothing. Seth looks at him over his shoulder, at his mesmerizing eyes. Words tumble out of his mouth before he thinks them through. “I didn’t—I thought you’d hate me if you knew. You must. I—I wouldn’t know what to do. I can’t deal with you hating me.” It sounds like a pathetic confession, it probably is.

A gasp escapes Seth’s lips when Roman’s hand touches his face. He blinks, trying to convince himself that his mind isn’t playing a cruel trick on him. Roman’s thumb strokes over his cheek, too real to be a hallucination.

“You saved me,” Roman tells him softly. “You saved Lola and Jimmy. How could I hate you?”

“You don’t hate me?”

Roman’s finger caresses his face once again, making him feel warm all over. “No.” It’s enough, it’s more than enough. Even if everyone else hated him it wouldn’t matter, he wouldn’t care.

Their eyes locked in silence. Seth doesn’t want to be the first one breaking the eye contact, and it seems like neither does Roman. Slowly, Roman leans closer, close enough for their noses to brush… but not quite. Just so slightly. Seth feels his heartbeat speed up. He can hear the sound of his own pulse echoing in his ears. It’s like time has slowed down.

Seth doesn’t know what they are. Or what they will be. He just knows he feels something for Roman; a feeling that doesn’t go away but instead grows stronger as the time goes. What is this feeling? One word crosses his mind, but he quickly dismisses it. No _. Not that_. The word frightens him to the core. He can’t feel that way about someone now, it’s not the right time. Especially not someone like Roman, who risks his life every time he goes on a mission. What happened to Dean or Sami could have happened to him. Seth’s blood saved him one time, but how many more times will it work?

Seth has lost everything once. He can’t go through it all over again.

“Thank you,” Seth murmurs as he gently pulls away from Roman’s touch. He rises to his feet, walking towards the door. “I’m—gonna check on Lola.”

He turns around and finds Roman looking at him. “No. Thank you.”

Seth watches him for a long second before reaching out to open the door and leave the room. Only then he feels his heartbeat slow down.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Seth. Isn't it a bit too late to back away now?


	9. Borderline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update.

The next few days are hectic. After some tests Bischoff gave Seth’s blood to Neville, the infected from Sector 8. Because it’s being suppressed by the vaccine, his infection stage is pretty much at the same level as Lola’s and Jimmy’s. The blood cures him, too, much to Seth’s relief. But unlike the others, he isn’t grateful. He’s dead set on saying it’s something Seth has to do, considering his father created the virus.

Honestly, it doesn’t surprise Seth. He has predicted this kind of reaction. And he knows Neville isn’t the only one thinking that way. Seth can feel the weird look Curtis, Tye, and Emma have been giving him, when they think he isn’t looking. But it’s fine. It could have been worse.

After the conversation he had in his room with Roman, Seth has only seen him twice. Partly it’s because Seth is kind of avoiding him, but also because he’s been on missions with Nia most of the times. Seth doesn’t really know what he feels about it. On one hand he’s relieved Roman hasn’t made it difficult for him to stay away, but on the other hand he can’t pretend that he isn’t worried. Something could happen to Roman or Nia. Seth really doesn’t want to think about Lola losing her mother.

Though he supposes there’s nothing he can do about it. All of them have their own obligations, and for Seth it’s making a good use of his blood.

When he’s not in the lab, Seth mostly spends his time with Lola or with Becky in the infirmary. Lola is still a pleasure to be around. The base doesn’t really have a garden, apart from several patches of grass and wild flowers, but it’s still better than being trapped inside the building for days. When they’re outside, she also likes to gaze at the big trees outside the gate, since nobody is allowed to go out without permission.

“Mommy will love this.” Lola says as she picks some of the wild flowers that have white petals and a yellow center. “She loves daisies.”

So, those are daisies. Seth leans down to touch a group of small, yellow flowers. “What about these?” He almost has no clue about flowers and garden plants. His mother never had time to tend the garden, and neither his stepfather nor brother had green hands. Their garden consisted mostly of grass and fruit trees.

“Those are buttercups. She likes the ones over there better,” Lola explains, pointing at the purple flowers further away. “They’re called wine cups. We had a bunch of them at home.”

“They’re really lovely.” Seth rises up and walks over to the other grass patch “You had many flowers at home?” he asks, picking a number of the purple flowers.

Lola’s voice remains neutral when she speaks, but there is a longing in her eyes that he doesn’t miss. “Yeah, Daddy planted them for us. We had roses, daisies, wine cups, tulips. I collected them every day and Mommy would put them in the water.”

Seth nods, isn’t sure of what to reply. “I’m—sorry about your dad,” he says feebly.

“It’s okay.” She shakes her head earnestly. “He’s gone to Heaven. But I still have Mom.” Turning her head to look at Seth, she smiles. “And because of you I can go outside again. My skin isn’t blue anymore, so people won’t look at me.”

Seth feels a surge of warmth when he looks at her smile. Who wouldn’t be fond of her? Only those with a heart of stone. He returns the smile, giving her the flowers he picked. Then as he stands back up and brushes the grass from his knees, he sees someone approach them.

It’s Kevin, whom Seth hasn’t seen much since he came back. Most of the times he is on kitchen duties. Sami once told him that Kevin is the best cook out of everyone in the base. Seth still remembers how proud Sami sounded then; Kevin was his best friend.

Kevin’s face is rigid when his eyes briefly meet Seth's, but it softens as he looks down at Lola. “Your mom is looking for you, sweetheart.”

Lola gracefully rises to her feet, holding the flowers that she and Seth have collected. “She’s back?”

“Yeah, she’s waiting for you in your room,” Kevin says. After she was released from the lab, she stays with Nia in her room.

“See you later, Seth,” she tells Seth before going towards the building; her brown hair moves back and forth as she half runs, gently blown by the wind. It’s still amazing to see her happy and full of live, as opposed to her lying down in bed in the lab with needles attached to her skin.

Seth averts his gaze to Kevin, who clearly doesn’t want to look at him for more than two seconds. “Eric wants to see you in the lab,” Kevin says. And then he leaves, without waiting for Seth to respond.

 _Well, okay then_. Seth watches his back until he disappears behind the door. He can’t deny that it bothers him a little, because Kevin was really nice to him when he first arrived. But like with Neville, Curtis and the others, he isn’t surprised. He only wonders how many more people feel that way about him.

 

* * *

 

Bischoff is not the most expressive person that Seth knows, but this time even he notices that he looks gloomy. It makes Seth worry that something bad has happened. “Is something wrong?” he asks warily. Don’t let it be his blood has stopped working as a cure. _God forbid._

They’re in the research room, and there are no other people around. Bischoff is looking at him before he replies, “I heard something about Hunter that I’m sure you would like to know.”

Seth blinks. Does he want to know? After a few seconds, he nods. Fine, he might as well hear it. “What is it?”

“He’s gone,” Bischoff says and then pauses, as if waiting for Seth’s reaction. When Seth remains silent, he continues, “After Mick informed the board about his virus research, they stripped him of his position, relegated him to the medicine department. Not only that, they also wanted all of his virus to be neutralized to not risk another outbreak. As you might guess, Hunter couldn’t accept it.”

Seth can’t say that he didn’t expect it; with Hunter it was always been about his ego. He wanted to use virus to eliminate cancer cells, and in his mind it means improving humanity. Without blinking he used Roman to test Seth’s blood, didn’t care he is another human being. But did Hunter ever stop and think about the risk and the price that he had to pay? Did it ever cross his mind, even just once, of how many lives lost because of him and his virus? Seth guesses they’ll never know.

He supposes he should feel something about this—anything. It’s his father after all. But the only thing he feels is a little pity, and relief that Hunter wouldn’t do anyone more harm. As harsh as it sounds, he had long stopped being a father to Seth. His childhood memories of him were vague, nothing he could recall clearly. He remembered seeing him in Unipharm headquarters alongside his mother, but that was pretty much all.

“What happened to him?”

“He injected himself with the virus. A massive dose of it, causing his heart to stop,” Bischoff replies.

It sounds like something Hunter would do. He wouldn’t just let the company get rid of him; if he had to go he’d do it on his own terms.

“Unipharm reported his death to the public as a heart problem, as well as made Bray Wyatt the new head scientist.”

Seth remembers Bray Wyatt all right. So, apparently the knock on his head did no permanent damage. “Wyatt was fascinated by the virus, too.”

Bischoff’s responds is a contemplative shrug. “It was only natural. He was Hunter’s right hand. But I’m sure they will keep an eye on him after what happened.”

His faith in Unipharm has always irritated Seth. He will never be able to trust them after what happened. He doesn’t know why Bischoff has so much faith in them. The softer part of Seth wants to give them a chance to prove themselves, because maybe they’ve learned their lesson. At least Foley kept his words about informing the board. But the more realistic part of him knows he will always be wary about Unipharm and its people.

“We’re ready to give Rusev and Alice your blood.”

“Okay.” Seth nods. He knows Lana has been looking forward to it. Yesterday he overheard her talking to Naomi when he was going back to his room, saying she couldn’t wait for Rusev to get cured like Jimmy.

Alice is a nineteen year old girl from Sector 6. She arrived in the base two days ago. Roman and Nia rescued her and her brother from their fully turned parents, before they tried to kill them. Unlike Alice, her brother Cedric isn’t infected. Bischoff is interested in Alice because her virus stage is still early, yet she doesn’t have the symptoms that Jimmy and Lola had. Instead her symptoms are closer to Rusev’s, such as violent behavior and highly increased strength. That’s why he wants to test Seth’s blood on them at the same time to compare the effect.

As they enter the restricted section a few people are already there. Lana, Cedric, Xavier, and Curtis, as well as Rusev and Alice who are securely strapped to their chairs. Cedric looks nervous, while on the contrary Lana is beaming and can’t stop smiling.

Bischoff starts with Alice, who growls at him when he moves closer. She tugs hard at the strap around her arm, making Seth worry that she’s gonna hurt herself. Nodding at Xavier on the other side of the chair, Bischoff holds her hand firmly and presses the needle onto her skin. Minutes pass, but nothing happens. Alice is still trashing on her seat, her growl turns into a high-pitched scream that echoes in the room, making Seth want to cover his ears.

“God, do something!” Cedric yells, trying to rush forward but Curtis quickly gets a hold of his arm. “She’s in pain, this doesn’t help her.”

“It takes time,” Bischoff tells him, sounding as calm as usual. “We’re watching her closely.” He motions Xavier to inject Rusev with the blood.

It’s even harder than doing it on Alice, because Rusev is clenching his fists so tightly that his purple veins protrude beneath his skin. On top of that Rusev keeps glaring at Xavier, letting out low groans. Lana gently touches his shoulder to calm him down, but he doesn’t seem to notice her, his eyes solely fixed on Xavier.

“It’s okay, baby, you’ll be fine,” Lana coaxes him. This seems to work as Rusev blinks and stops groaning. Xavier takes the chance to push the needle in and injects the blood into his vein. Rusev’s breathing gets quicker.

The waiting is always excruciating. It makes Seth think about a lot of things, such as what if the blood stops working for some reasons. This time is no exception. Time is ticking, minutes pass, yet there are no visible changes. Alice is still moaning in pain, and Rusev keeps letting out low, throaty groans. Even Lana who was so optimistic now begins to falter.

“Maybe you should try to give them more blood,” she suggests, starting to sound concerned. “It shouldn’t be this long… should it?”

Bischoff looks at Alice then at Rusev, with a frown on his normally unreadable face. “It shouldn’t,” he says slowly, more to himself. Then he shifts his gaze to Xavier. “Take a sample of their blood to be examined.”

Xavier nods and goes out of the room to get some new, empty syringes. Lana doesn’t seem to agree with this. “Why can’t you just try to give them more blood? The amount you gave them was not enough.”

“We won’t do anything before getting the result,” Bischoff tells her.

“But—“

He doesn’t let her finish. “You all may leave. The examination will take some time.” His voice is composed but laced with authority.

Lana stares at him for a second before heading for the exit. It looks like Cedric doesn’t want to leave either, but Curtis puts a hand on his back and gently pushes him, making him walk. Seth watches them, doesn’t quite sure what he feels. This is what he fears the most—that something causes his blood to stop working. Maybe Lana was right and they should give them more blood. It makes sense since their infection is more severe than Lola's and Jimmy’s, right? Bischoff’s gaze is now on him, and Seth doesn’t have any choice but walks towards the door.

The result comes out later that day after Seth comes back from helping Becky out with new medicine supplies. When he arrives in the lab, Lana and Cedric are already there. Behind them stand Curtis and another mercenary called Titus who Seth doesn’t see often. It’s like they are there to keep an eye on Lana and Cedric. Seth can’t shake off the bad feeling that starts to creep in his stomach.

“We’ve analyzed both Alice’s and Rusev’s blood,” Bischoff says, never the person to waste time with small talks. “There are similarities in the genes of their virus, despite it being at different stages. Alice’s virus is more complex and developed than Lola’s and Jimmy’s, at the same stage. While Rusev’s has been suppressed by our vaccine all this time, keeping it from manifesting further. But it’s still at an advanced stage.”

“What does that mean?” Cedric asks, looking as bewildered as everyone in the room.

Bischoff looks over at him. “It means Seth’s blood can’t neutralize Alice’s virus, because it’s more developed than the original one Hunter planted on him,” he says. “As for Rusev, his virus is already at such an advanced stage that it has the same complexity as Alice’s.”

The room is dead silent. Seth is still trying to digest what Bischoff said, it feels like he was speaking in another language. His blood doesn’t work for Alice’s virus… and it might be too late to save Rusev. He turns to Lana. It’s as if all the colors have been drained from her face.

“So now there are different kinds of viruses out there?” Titus asks, breaking the silence.

“Based on the infected we’ve come across, there are two,” Bischoff explains. “The original one and the one that has progressed. But so far we’ve only seen the latter on Alice, we don’t know how many more people out there have been infected with this virus. Although I’m afraid we will see more in the upcoming days.”

“How did the virus progress?” Seth can’t help asking.

Bischoff glances at him for a second. “There can be several factors. When the outbreak happened the virus was carried by rats into some of the water supplies. From there it infected different hosts, both animals and humans. Although it has no effect on animals. The virus’ genes will mutate and develop as they pass from one animal group to the other, and on the rare occasion when they’re back to infect humans, it’s not the same virus anymore.”

Lana shakes her head, slowly at first then more forcefully. “What are you gonna do now?”

Bischoff’s face slightly softens when he looks at her, but his tone as he speaks remains neutral. “We need to do more research on the new virus, perhaps using Seth’s blood to create a new vaccine. But it will take time.”

“Why don’t you try to give them more blood? It’s that simple. I might not be a doctor, but I’m not stupid. I’m a nurse,” she insists. “How long must Rusev wait?”

Bischoff’s tone becomes relentless as he says, “We’re not going to do anything without a proper research. I can guarantee you that we’ll do our best, but you must let us do our job.” Lana is about to open her mouth to protest, but Titus gently touches her shoulder. She glares at him then at Bischoff before stalking out of the room.

 

* * *

 

In the next week, Bischoff prediction comes true. Four more people arrive at the base, and only one of them is infected with the original virus and can be cured with Seth’s blood. The remaining three infected have the exact same symptoms as Alice. It’s as if dark clouds are hanging over the base, replacing the positivity after Jimmy and Lola got cured. The situation is more severe than they thought. _And it’s all because Hunter wanted to fix humanity,_ Seth thinks bitterly. Now he’s gone and they have to clean up the mess he left.

Judgemental eyes follow Seth wherever he goes, once the families of the new infected are aware of who his father was. He tries to ignore it, until the whispers and curious glances soon become too much. But there’s nothing he can do about it. The fact is they have every right to feel that way about him and his father.

Seth has just left the infirmary when he bumps into Cedric in the corridor. He smiles at him, but Cedric doesn’t smile back.

“I have to do this…” he murmurs, eyes dead set on Seth.

At first, Seth doesn’t quite understand what he’s talking about. But then Cedric grabs his arm, looking a little nervous and, at the same time, determined. “What are you doing?” Seth inquires.

“I need your blood for my sister.” Cedric’ fingers around Seth’s arm shake a little. “Give me your blood.”

Seth looks at him, unable to find a word. Maybe he has a point. Despite Bischoff’s hesitation, the developed virus still originates from the virus that is running in Seth’s blood. So, a simple solution such as increasing the amount of blood given to the infected might work. But what if it doesn’t? It might even put the infected in danger. “Cedric, maybe we should ask the people in the lab again about this?” he suggests, attempting to pull his arm free. But Cedric tightens his grip.

“You don’t wanna help us?” The doubt is gone from Cedric’s voice. It’s now filled with resolution—and anger. “Do you already forget your fucking father made the virus? My sister is only nineteen, she doesn’t deserve to suffer like this.”

Before Seth can do anything, Cedric shoves him hard. Seth lets out a surprised cry when his back collides with the wall. “You must give me your blood,” Cedric repeats, the wild gaze in his eyes makes him look like a madman.

Seth knows he can push him away if he wants. Cedric isn’t much bigger than he is, and Seth isn’t weak. But somehow he doesn’t do it. A familiar feeling is crawling in his stomach—guilt, slowly followed by remorse. If he can’t help the infected anymore, the lost lives would be for what? Sami died because Seth couldn’t defend himself better, and if he didn’t distract Dean he wouldn’t get bitten. It was all Seth’s fault; he couldn’t even blame Hunter for it.

The infirmary door suddenly opens and Becky appears. She stops on her tracks when she sees them, her eyes widen. “What’s going on here?” she asks, quickly approaching them. “Let him go, Cedric.”

Cedric loosens his grip on Seth’s arm but he doesn’t let go. “I need his blood.”

“I said let him go.” Becky raises her voice, her fiery hair flies around her face as she pushes Cedric away. “Are you out of your mind?”

Staring at her then at Seth, Cedric breathes heavily. “I’m not losing Alice… She… she’s all I have left.”

Becky’s voice goes a little softer when she speaks. “Eric and his team are working hard on it. You have to trust them.” And then it’s back to being firm again. “But if you do something like this again, I’m gonna ask Roman to throw you out.”

Cedric is silent for a second before turning around and leaving the corridor. Becky waits until he vanishes behind the door, and then she looks at Seth, putting a hand on his shoulder. “He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

“No.”

“I’m afraid he won’t be the last to attempt something like that.” She sounds more concerned than she showed when Cedric was there. “You need to be careful.“

Seth turns to her. “Who could blame him? He only wanted to save his sister,” he says, lowering his gaze. When he looks back up, Becky is watching him with worried eyes.

 

* * *

 

Seth doesn’t remember how it feels to have a peaceful sleep. Sometimes it takes him hours before he falls asleep, and when he does fragments of his nightmare will come and go, waking him up every now and then. Most of the dream is the same; he would see Sami and Dean, or his mother and brother, or the creature in Sector 8. But lately there is another person he dreams about.

 _Roman_.

The dreams about him aren’t always the same. Sometimes Roman is completely oblivious of Seth looking at him. Other times he sees him but his eyes are full of anger and disdain. But they all have the same ending—Roman will die. And Seth has to watch him, without being able to do anything. _Please… not you,_ he screams silently at the lifeless body. _You were all I had._

Suddenly he feels that something is hurting his arm.

“…I’m sorry, Seth.”

Seth opens his eyes and blinks in confusion. Roman’s face is gone and being replaced by—Lana’s. She is hovering on top of him, her blond hair slightly brushes his face. She’s holding something he can’t figure out. Why is Lana in his dream?

“…have to do this…” her voice sounds more and more distant as Seth’s vision blurs out. “…for Rusev…”

 _Why is she saying sorry…?_ He opens his mouth, wanting to ask what she is doing and what she is apologizing for. But there’s no voice coming out. Why can’t his voice come out? A gasp escapes his lips when he feels another sharp pain on his arm. And after that everything goes black.

 

* * *

 

When Seth wakes up, he’s greeted by harsh light that forces him to immediately shut his eyes again. His head throbs painfully and his body feels heavy, he barely can lift his arm. What happened to him? He does another attempt of opening his eyes, more slowly this time. Wait, he’s not in his room anymore. The familiar white curtains and white shelves tell him he’s in the infirmary. But why is he here?

“You’re awake.”

The deep voice makes his heart beat faster, the way only one person can do. Seth turns his head and sees Roman sitting by Becky’s desk, his gaze fixed on him. “How are you feeling?”

“My head—hurts,” Seth starts, can’t help feeling relieved that he can speak again. Although the voice that comes out of his mouth sounds rough and unlike his own. “What happened to me?”

Roman’s face is grim as he watches him, but his voice remains gentle. “Lana took some anaesthetic drug from the lab and sedated you. Then she took your blood.” _Oh_ … that explains everything. Seth vaguely remembers Lana telling Bischoff she is a nurse, so she must have medicine knowledge. “Xavier caught her before she gave it to Rusev. He could guess what she must have done to you and woke me up, asking me to check on you,” Roman continues. He draws in a deep breath. “I brought you here. Apart from some blood loss, you should be fine.”

“What about Lana?” Seth hopes she’s not in a big trouble because of this.

He sees Roman’s jaw tighten. “She’s in her room. Curtis will be watching her for the next days.”

Seth frowns, but it makes his head hurt even more so he stops. “But she’s not a prisoner. Besides, I’m fine. You know she didn’t mean to harm me.”

“She could hurt both you and Rusev,” Roman says, sounding a little firmer this time. “There’s no excuse for something that reckless and harmful.”

His tone is inarguable. So Seth decides to change the subject. “You stayed here since last night?” he asks. “Didn’t sleep?”

“Yeah.”

Something warm floods through Seth’s chest. He takes in Roman’s face, the dark circles around his eyes. “Thank you,” he murmurs. “But you don’t need to watch over me. I’m fine.”

“I’ll leave once Becky is here,” Roman replies, with another unquestionable tone. Then before Seth says anything, he goes on, “Also when you’re discharged from here, you’ll be staying with me. And try not to be alone when I’m not around.”

Seth blinks, almost thinking that he must hear him wrong. “What?” The word slips out of his mouth. “I’ll be staying with—you? In your room?”

“You heard me,” Roman says.

Shaking his head as much as his headache allows him, Seth protests, “But there’s no need for that. I can take care of myself. Who says Lana is gonna do something like that again?” His heart is pounding. Sleeping in the same room as Roman is the last thing he needs. He’s had enough hard time concealing his feelings without Roman being too close. He doesn’t dare think what will happen if he has to sleep in the same bed as him. He can’t do that. But as he looks into Roman’s eyes, Seth knows he’s not gonna back down.

“Becky told me what Cedric attempted to do to you. And now Lana did this. What makes you think the others aren’t gonna do the same thing?” Roman speaks in a strict tone that Seth doesn’t like. They’re not in the military; he can’t just order him around.

“I’m not a helpless child. You don’t have to do this.” Seth’s voice goes higher.

“I’m not saying you are,” Roman tells him, sounding a little more patient. “But chances are you’re not gonna stop them. Because you feel guilty and responsible for what happened. Even though it’s not your fault. ”

It surprises Seth how well Roman can read him. The next words tumble out of his mouth before he can stop himself, “It’s because of my blood, isn’t it? Since it’s _very_ important to all of you.”

Roman’s gaze softens as he looks at him. “It is. But you’re more important to me.”

His words make Seth’s heart beat faster, but he forces himself to look away. He can’t do this. “I—don’t think it’s necessary.”

“It’s an order.” Roman keeps his eyes on him.

Seth looks back at him in disbelief. “Are you pulling rank on me?” Then irritation begins to takes over.

“You’re one of us now. And like the others, you have to do what I say. No exception.” Roman’s voice is still calm, but it has the undeniable authority that Seth has noticed he possesses since the first time they met.

The silence that follows is tense. Seth shifts his gaze to the ceiling, while he feels that Roman continues to watch him. Seth’s head is throbbing. Mostly with pain, but also with all the thoughts and worries about what’s going to happen between them. Becky comes in a moment later, and Seth has never been happier to see her.

“I’ll come back later,” Roman tells him, before nodding at Becky.

When the door is closed behind him, Seth lets out a deep breath. _He’ll be fine_. He’s slept in the same bed as Roman before. Nothing will happen. He closes his eyes, listening to Becky’s voice as she softly tells him about his blood loss. _He’ll be fine_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Seth can't seem to catch a break...


	10. Frustration

If there’s something Roman has learned from a young age, it’s that showing fear never helps anyone. One time when they were small, his little sister stubbornly climbed a tree after him and fell. He didn’t show her how scared he was and his composure rubbed off on her, making her stop crying. Years later his father was the first catching the virus, and for the sake of his mother Roman had to be the strong one. Not long after that, each person in his family was taken away, one by one. And none of them ever returned.

Opening his closet door, Roman looks inside. There should be plenty of room for Seth’s clothes if he puts some of his mission gears together. As he moves a few shirts he remembers how Seth looked when he told him he’d have to stay here. There were disbelief in his eyes, a slight panic, and—anger. Perhaps Roman shouldn’t use his rank privilege in this. But the truth is he’s afraid, and he can’t let Seth see that. What Cedric and Lana did is only the beginning of what the other infected’s family members could do to him. What’s worse is he knows Seth will let them. Despair is a powerful emotion; it makes people do desperate things.

 _So does guilt_.

Roman draws in a deep breath. All he wants is to keep Seth safe, but it’s getting harder and harder to do. Dean would tell him he’s in too deep. The thought makes him stop moving. Sometimes when he’s on a mission, he still instinctively turns around hoping to see Dean behind him. And then it hits him all over again that Dean is… gone. The one person Roman thought would always be there.

And Sami. Kind-hearted, trusting Sami. Roman knows his death affects Kevin the most. They started here together, and they knew each other probably as long as Roman and Dean. What worries him is that Kevin wouldn’t talk to anyone about it.

A knock on the door pulls him back to here and now. “Come on in,” Roman says, shutting the closet door. Jimmy’s smile greets him as soon as he enters the room. Roman can’t help smiling back. It’s such a nice change to see his cousin be up and about outside the Q lab, after being stuck there for such a long time.

“Hey, Ro.” Jimmy gives him a quick hug. “Haven’t seen much of you lately.”

“Reports keep coming in about the new virus,” Roman replies, his smile falters a little. It’s like a new epidemic all over again.

Jimmy nods solemnly. A frown appears between his eyebrows. “Man, it’s fucked up. I’ll never stop being grateful that I got cured, but—those poor people.” He pauses and sighs.

“Yeah.”

“I heard about what Lana and Cedric did to Seth,” Jimmy says again before Roman tells him to sit down. “Is he alright?”

Roman is quiet for a split second before saying, “He’ll be fine, he only lost some blood.”

It doesn’t sound too reassuring as Jimmy’s face remains worried. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to him.”

Roman looks at him. He knows that Jimmy and Naomi feel they owe Seth everything. “Neither do I,” he says. Roman will do anything in his power to keep Seth safe, but it won’t be easy if Seth himself won’t cooperate. He can’t take him to missions, and they’re already short on people now that Curtis has to keep an eye on Lana. But that seems to convince Jimmy, which is good for him. He’s been through a lot, from losing Jey and his parents to being infected.   

“I came here to tell you,” Jimmy starts, then pausing to take a deep breath. “That Naomi and I are leaving.”

It doesn’t surprise him. The medical team has confirmed that Jimmy is one hundred percent clear, so there’s no need for them to stay here anymore. But he needs to make sure they go to somewhere safe. “Where are you going?”

“Remember Naomi’s uncle Booker?”

“The farmer? Yeah, I remember him.” Roman only met him once at Naomi and Jimmy’s wedding, but he seems like a nice guy who’s very fond of her.

Jimmy nods before saying again, “He lives in a farm about two hours’ drive from Sector 12. He wanted Naomi to stay with him while I was on treatment, but she didn’t want to leave me.”

Roman thoughtfully nods. Not many people choose to live behind the wall that borders Sector 12. What lies behind is an untouched wilderness; nobody knows where it ends. “Why does he want to live in such a lonely place?” After all, humans are afraid of the unknown.

“Well, the soil is rich and fertile, with rivers and meadows,” Jimmy explains, his lips curve into a smile. “For now it’s untouched by the disease, because the wall is containing it inside.” Then his smile falters a little. “Eventually it will break out, but nobody knows when it will happen. Until then I want to live with my girl for as long as we can.”

A smile crosses Roman’s face. “Do what’s best for both of you.” If there’s a chance for them to be happy, they most definitely should take it.

Jimmy seems a little hesitant about what he’s going to say next. “Have you ever… considered having a normal life again?” he asks, sounding careful. “You can always come with us.”

Silence falls between them as Roman lets his words sink in. It never crossed his mind before. Being here gave him a new purpose, after his old life ceased to nothing. “Even if I wanted it I can’t. I have responsibilities,” he says wistfully. The chance to have a normal life has long gone for someone like him. His fellow mercenaries have been his family for the last two years. As long as they need him, he’s not going anywhere.

_And there’s Seth._

“Alright, if you say so.” Jimmy sighs, his gaze flickers down slightly.

“When will you leave?”

Jimmy looks up. “The day after tomorrow.”

It’s so—soon, like he said. But Roman merely nods. Time isn’t gonna slow down and stop for them. “I’ll drive you there.”

Smiling at him, Jimmy leans forward to give him a hug. This time it lasts longer. “Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

The first thing that Seth notices when he enters Roman’s room is that the rooms in the west wing are bigger than the ones in the east wing. Other than the double bed, there are also a desk and a chair, a brown armchair near the bed, and a big, white closet that occupies almost a whole side of the left wall. On the desk there are a few books and file folders. Everything looks completely organized, as Seth expected. Hesitantly, he makes his way to the closet and opens it. He doesn’t have many clothes—and all of them were Sami’s—but Roman has left generous space for him.

His eyes catch Roman’s black vests and shirts, folded neatly on one of the shelves. Despite knowing he shouldn’t, he reaches out to trace along the seam of Roman’s vest, feeling the familiar fabric under his skin. What the hell is he doing? Seth pulls his hand back in an abrupt motion. Roman isn’t even here yet and his resolve is already slipping. After hurriedly stacking his clothes, he closes the closet door.

Now what? It’s still too early go to bed but Seth has nothing else to do. He could’ve stayed longer in the infirmary, but he didn’t want to bother Becky more than he already had. She pretty much never left his side these past few days, although he knows she has other things to do. Seth hates being a burden. He is more than capable of taking care of himself, no matter what Roman said. He doesn’t need anybody to babysit him.

As he’s walking towards the bed, Seth looks down at the clothes he’s wearing. A thin navy blue shirt and sweatpants of similar color, they’re comfortable enough to sleep in. He doesn’t know which side of the bed Roman normally sleeps on, but he’ll take the side closer to the wall. That way Roman won’t have to get past him later. Slipping under the covers, Seth lays his head on the pillow. He hopes that sleep will come quickly, so that he’ll stop noticing every unimportant detail.  _Like how the pillow smells like Roman._

He shakes his head and squeezes his eyes shut.

 

* * *

 

A rustling sound makes Seth stir. He opens his eyes and blinks, doesn’t quite remember where he is. Through his hazy vision, he sees someone standing in the middle of the room. _Roman?_ Of course… this is his room.

Perhaps it’s because he’s still half-asleep, but Seth can’t tear his eyes away from Roman as he’s taking his clothes off. _His skin looks warm and soft._ He stares at Roman’s exposed back, mesmerized by the way his shoulder blades move when he hangs his shirt on the chair. Then his gaze wanders down the curve of his lower back, how the waistband of his trousers is hanging on his hips, dangerously low. Seth’s face heats up. He should look away before Roman notices him watching. But for some reasons… he can’t. Something warm is twisting in the pit of his stomach, growing hotter the longer his eyes stay on Roman’s body.

Then Roman turns around, and Seth is still watching. Roman’s hair is down around his shoulders, slightly damp. A faint smile crosses his face when he notices that Seth’s eyes are open.

“Did I wake you up?”

Seth shakes his head, doesn’t trust himself to speak. Roman looks at him for a moment before lying down and pulling the covers over his body. At least he’s not exposed to Seth’s eyes anymore. But now he is so close… their arms are almost touching under the blanket.

This was a bad idea. He should never agree to do it. Yeah, they shared a bed before, but it was a different situation. Without the thick layers of their mission gears, everything feels much more intimate. Seth wishes he could forget the way Roman’s body looks under the light, his hard muscles and soft, golden skin.

He forces himself to turn to his side, facing the wall. Behind him he hears Roman shift, and then a moment later the room goes dark.

“Goodnight.” Roman’s voice cuts through the darkness, deep and velvety, doing absolutely nothing to put away the fire in Seth’s stomach.

 _He smells like fresh soap._ Seth closes his eyes and grips a fistful of the sheet. “Goodnight.”

 

* * *

 

If Seth thought it was going to get easier with time, he couldn’t be more wrong. He still dreams about Roman, but even the dreams start to be… altered. Some of them are so vivid that Seth can feel Roman’s tongue glide over his skin, waking him up in the middle of the night, drenched with sweat and—embarrassingly hard. In the stillness of the room, he can only hear the sound of Roman’s steady breathing. But at least he didn’t wake him up.

Seth wants nothing more than go back to sleep, but his entire body is on fire. Before he can stop it, his hand wanders down his body, palm pressing up against the hard flesh. _Oh_ _God._ He arches his back; a moan threatens to escape his throat. _No, Seth, stop._ This is wrong. He wouldn’t be able to look Roman in the eye if he did this. Letting out a shaky breath, Seth pulls his hand back up.

But the same thing keeps happening, again and again. He’s afraid one of these days he’s gonna give in to the need and wake Roman up. And if that happened what should he tell him?

Even Becky starts to notice that Seth looks pale. She insists to run some checks on him, telling him later that his blood pressure is high. Stress can cause that, as well as sleep deprivation. She offers to give him a medicine to help him sleep, but Seth doesn’t like sleeping pills. They’ll only make him tired and drowsy. In the end she gives up but not before sternly telling him to take care of himself, and that he must do something if the problem continues. Seth agrees, but only to keep her off his back.

The truth is he doesn’t know what to do. He supposes the mad dreams will stop if he moves back to his own room. But Roman isn’t going to allow that.

 _God_ , as if he hasn’t had enough on his plate already. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, Seth heads to the kitchen. He’s on kitchen duty today and already not looking forward to it. He hears some voices talking as he walks closer, but the moment he enters the kitchen, Kevin stops talking to the other guy Drew. He looks at Seth with obvious dislike in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” he asks in a sharp voice.

“I’m helping out today,” Seth replies, walking towards one of the workbenches. There is no way Kevin doesn’t know that. Everyone gets assigned to help in the kitchen in turn.

Kevin huffs and continues chopping whatever he has in front of him that Seth can’t see. “Well, I don’t need you here.”

Uncomfortable silence falls, only broken by the redundant sound of the knife hitting the chopping board. _Great, now what?_ Drew is glancing at Seth awkwardly. Then Kevin says again, without looking, “If you wanna help, go to the storage room and sort out the fruits and vegetables that came this week. Nobody’s had time to do it yet.”

“But, Kev, that’s not a one-person task,” Drew interjects, looking kind of concerned. “And Roman specifically said he shouldn’t be alone.”

He isn’t done talking, but Seth has stopped listening the moment he mentioned Roman. Did Roman give people an order to keep an eye on him? As if he was helpless. For his information, Seth survived everything that was thrown at him, long before he met Roman. He's _not_ a fucking liability.

“I’ll do it.”

Drew is about to say something, but Seth doesn’t wait for whatever it is. He turns on his heel and stalks out of the room. _Screw Roman_. He’s going to do this task, whether Roman likes it or not.

Half an hour in the storage room Seth is already bored to death. The task is so tedious. At least when he’s helping Becky doing a medicine stock, he’s not on his own. The piles of boxes of vegetables and fruits in front of him are abundant. He decides to put the boxes together by category, and later he’ll open them to check the contents before stacking them. As he slips between the rows, he notices that one of the boxes doesn’t have the label on the side. He can’t see what’s inside; it means that he has to take it from the stack and see the other label on top of the box. It’s not an easy thing to do, because the box is at the bottom of the pile, and there are four others on top of it.

“Do you need help?”

Seth wipes the sweat off his forehead and turns to look at the door. He was so engrossed in his task that he didn’t hear the door being opened. Lana is standing by the door, an unsure smile on her face. She appears to be alone. Does that mean Curtis isn’t following her around anymore? Seth hopes that’s the case. It must be really annoying to be tailed around all day, regardless of what she did.

Before he replies, she’s already walking closer, taking the clipboard and pen that he laid on top of a box. “Are you doing an inventory count?”

“Yeah. I’m grouping them together by category,” he says. “Before checking the contents.”

“I’ll give you a hand.” She places the clipboard back onto the box and steps behind Seth towards the boxes he has moved.

Seth watches her back for a second as she starts opening a box. “You don’t have to,” he says.

She smiles, scribbling the content of the box on the clipboard. “It’ll be quicker with two people.”

Well, he can’t argue with that. And she seems adamant, so Seth turns back to the boxes near him and picks up where he left off. They work in silence for a moment, broken only by the sound of opened boxes and footsteps.

“I was looking for you everywhere. I want to—apologize for what I did to you,” Lana says after being quiet for a while. “After seeing Jimmy and Lola, I thought… I really thought Rusev would also—“ she trails off.

Seth turns around, his gaze flickers to her downturned mouth and forlorn eyes. “I’m sorry,” he tells her. Sorry that his blood doesn’t work on her husband, sorry for what his father did… “If there was anything I could do to help him, I would.”

Lana’s eyes are misty when she blinks. But there is a smile on her face. “Thank you.”

 

* * *

 

Today has been hectic from the start. Just after dawn, Roman, Curtis, and Nia already left the base. A family in Sector 7 reported about their infected family members, one of them was a young man who was unthinkably strong. He somehow got a hold of Curtis’ neck and wouldn’t let go, nearly strangling him to death. Their higher dose of tranquilizer didn’t work on him, and in the end Nia had to shoot him to make him release Curtis. Thankfully, the other infected could be tranquilized. But their day didn’t end there. There was a family in Sector 5 who locked their mother in the basement after she showed some symptoms, added with two more cases in the Sector.

The moment they went back to the base, it was already dark. Roman can’t wait to get out of his mission gear and get rid of the sweat. But before he even manages to go back to his room, a wary-looking Drew approaches him, telling him Seth hasn’t been back from the storage room since midday.

That doesn’t improve Roman’s mood at all. “Why did you let him?” he demands. “Didn’t I say he shouldn’t be left alone?” He doesn’t need something to happen to Seth to top this exhausting day.

“I… I wanted to check on him,” Drew stammers, lowering his gaze. “But Kevin didn’t let me and—“

Roman doesn’t wait until he finishes. He pushes past him, striding towards the door at the end of the corridor. The storage room is located at the more isolated part of the building. People only go there if they need something from the storage. Seth should never be here on his own.

When he reaches the big, heavy door, he pushes it open. What he sees inside makes him stop on his tracks. Seth is opening a box, while talking to someone behind him. A person Roman doesn’t hope to see anywhere near him.

The sound of the opened door makes them stop talking. Seth looks up at him, seemingly more irritated than surprised. On the contrary, Lana fiddles with the clipboard in her hands. Roman steps inside and shifts his gaze from Seth to her.

“Do you mind if I speak to Seth alone?” He keeps his voice neutral. But only _just_. Lana wordlessly shakes her head, briefly glancing at Seth.

“Thank you for the help,” Seth tells her, with a smile that disappears as soon as she’s out of the door.

Roman waits until she’s gone for a few seconds, his eyes never leave Seth’s face. “What were you thinking?” he asks, taking three long steps towards Seth. “Lana, of all people?”

“What could she do to me? Tie me up?” Seth doesn’t try to hide his annoyance. He lifts a box, dropping it on top of another box. It lands with a thud. Then he straightens up and faces Roman. “I should ask you why you told people to keep an eye on me, as if staying in your room wasn’t embarrassing enough.”

Roman expected resentment about the order, but Seth should know better than to be this careless. “In case you didn’t notice, everything I did is to keep you safe.”

At least Seth can’t argue with that; he blinks and stares at Roman with furrowed brows. “She only wanted to apologize,” he says, the frown remains on his face.

“And you buy it just like that?” Roman asks, shaking his head. “She _drugged_ you, took your blood, almost putting both you and Rusev in danger. Are you telling me one simple apology is enough to fix it?”

“She did it to help her husband.” Seth raises his voice. He lifts his chin, with a challenge in his eyes. “Stop treating me like I’m helpless. I was doing fine on my own, long before I met you.”

The words hang heavily in the air between them. Roman lets out a breath, feeling his face heat up with frustration. He doesn’t know who he’s most frustrated with: Seth for not listening to him, or himself for caring too much.

“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you,” he finally says.

Something flashes in Seth’s eyes. His lips part slightly, but he says nothing. Roman looks at him. “It’s almost time for dinner, come with me,” he says, before adding, “Please.”

Seth doesn’t move. For a long moment he continues to stare at Roman, looking unsure. The challenge in his eyes is gone. Then he blinks and walks past Roman towards the door, leaving it open behind him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frustration is a powerful emotion, too.


	11. Faraway Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was such a struggle to write. I hope it turns out okay.

When Roman enters his room Seth is already lying in bed under the covers, but for once he is still awake. Their eyes meet, and to Roman’s surprise Seth doesn’t look away like he expected him to. Roman steps closer to the bed without breaking the eye contact, stopping just before his knees touch the mattress. For a moment, they take in each other quietly.

“Be careful with Lana and the others,” Roman starts. “I’m not saying they all have bad intention, but better be safe than sorry.”

“Is that another order?”  Seth replies, but his voice doesn’t sound as irritated as it did before. Or Roman simply hears what he wants to hear.

Roman continues to watch him, can still see the uncertainty in Seth’s eyes. Though he supposes any emotion is better than Seth having his cold wall back up. “No,” he says. “But I need you safe.”

What follows that is another silence. Roman decides to not push further; it’s been a long, exhausting day for both of them. He turns around and pulls his shirt over his head, hanging it on the back of the chair as usual. The cooling air that hits his skin feels nice. He took a shower before dinner but it was almost two hours ago. After unlacing his shoes he kicks them off, placing them under the desk. When he straightens up and turns to Seth again he notices that Seth’s gaze lingers on his chest for some long, _long_ seconds before slowly wandering down his stomach.

Despite the cool air, Roman’s skin suddenly feels warm. The dazed expression on Seth’s face and his slightly parted lips send a thought to Roman’s mind. One that he’d quickly shut down any other day. But Roman can feel his control slipping away as exhaustion starts to take its toll.

There is no question that Seth is beautiful. Roman would be lying if he said he never wondered about what could have happened between them, if they met under different circumstances. His intention about Seth sleeping in his bed is genuinely for Seth’s safety. But it doesn’t mean Roman feels nothing about Seth being so close, in such an intimate place. There were times where Seth would move in his sleep, hand accidentally brushing against Roman’s skin. It requires all of Roman’s willpower to not give in to the urge to touch him and do God knows what. And that day in Seth’s room after they came back from Sector 1, Roman would have kissed him—if he didn’t pull away.

The spell breaks when Seth blinks and turns his head, averting his gaze to the ceiling. Roman watches him for one more second before walking towards the desk to move a book. He has to do something to distract himself from the stray thoughts.

“If I promise you to be more careful, will you let me move back to my room?”

Roman’s hand stops in mid-air. He looks over at Seth whose eyes are back on him. “I can’t, I’m sorry,” he says. The raising number of new infected also means that more family members are staying in the east wing. Almost all of the rooms are now occupied. There’s no way Roman would let Seth go back there among them. “You’re safest here with me.”

Seth lets out a deep breath, but he doesn’t look surprised. As if he has expected Roman to say no and only wanted to test his luck. Roman slips under the covers, rolling onto his side. Seth stares back at him—or more precisely at his lips. The tingling warmth is back on Roman’s skin, slowly crawling down his belly. Their faces are only inches apart; he could easily pull Seth closer. _So_ _much closer_. From the look on Seth’s face, he isn’t the only one thinking about it. Seth breathes a little heavier, making it harder for Roman to stop the dangerous trail of thought in his head. 

He shouldn’t go there… to that place they can’t go back from. But somehow he finds himself reach out and touch Seth’s cheek, his thumb grazes across the cheekbone, ever so slowly. Seth’s gaze flicker to Roman’s lips one more time before he looks up, locking their eyes. The longing on his face almost makes Roman forget about everything and claim his soft mouth. _Almost_.

Seth is the most beautiful thing in this crazy, crazy world. Roman never wanted anything this much in the last two years. But, he can’t do it. Not like this, when both of them are tired and worked up. And probably will regret it when the morning comes.

With that thought, Roman reluctantly pulls his hand back. He sees surprise in Seth’s eyes, before gradually replaced by disappointment. _I’m sorry._ Roman is about to say it out loud, but Seth already rolls onto his other side, facing the wall. Roman can only stare at his hair that looks contrastingly dark on the white pillow. Seconds are ticking away.

“Goodnight,” Roman breaks the silence.

After a moment it’s obvious that Seth isn’t gonna reply. Sighing softly, Roman reaches over to turn off the bedside lamp. But he soon regrets it. In the darkness, his thoughts are louder in his head, swirling around and refusing to leave him alone.

 

* * *

 

For the next few days things are still strained between them. Roman doesn’t see Seth during the day since they both have different places to be, and during dinner he’ll sit in the corner with Becky, far away from where Roman normally sits. And when Roman returns to the room he’ll already be asleep. It couldn’t be more crystal clear that Seth doesn’t want to talk to him.

To make matters worse he starts to hear some… whispers about him and Seth. People don’t directly question him about his decision to make Seth stay in his room, but they might have wrong assumptions of why he did it. Curious glances are thrown at him, not only from his fellow mercenaries, but also the civilians. To be honest, Roman doesn’t care what they think. Taking advantage of Seth is the last thing on his mind, regardless of what he feels about him.

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind Roman heads to the kitchen. He’s glad to see that Kevin is the only one in there, washing a knife under running water. It’s best to talk to him alone. Kevin glances over his shoulder when Roman enters the kitchen, but he says nothing.

“Do you have a minute to talk?” Roman asks, stopping near the sink.

Kevin eyes him one more time before shrugging. “Sure.” He turns off the tap and places the knife on the workbench.

“The other day you assigned Seth to sort out the new supplies on his own,” Roman says again. “I’ve made myself clear that he shouldn’t be left alone unless you have a very important matter to do. And not only that, you also sent him to the most secluded part of the base.” So far he manages to keep his voice neutral. “It can’t happen again, Kevin.”

A snort leaves Kevin’s mouth, making Roman narrow his eyes. “He’s fine, right? I didn’t need him here, so I asked him if he wanted to be helpful. And he said he did.” There is no concern in his voice whatsoever.

Roman inwardly reminds himself to keep his patience. Kevin hasn’t been himself after Sami’s death. It would be better for him to open up to someone about it, but his pride keeps him from doing that. “You know what Cedric and Lana did to him. I’m only doing this for his safety.”

“Right. You seem very _concerned_ about Seth’s well-being, Roman. Even keeping him in your room.” Kevin turns to look at him. A smile appears on his face, one that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Or maybe you just wanna fuck him.”

“Remember who you’re talking to,” Roman’s jaw tightens. Grief is not an excuse to act like a jerk. “I know losing Sami really hits you hard, but you shouldn’t take it out on Seth.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Kevin retorts. “He’s the reason why Sami died—and Dean, too, in case you forget. _Your_ best friend.”

The mention of Dean’s name always makes Roman’s heart ache, but he shakes his head. “It was an accident. We were surrounded. There’s no way someone with no military background like Seth would be able to handle weapons as well as we do, in such short amount of time. He saved Lola and Jimmy,” he says. “He saved me.”

“He fucking has to,” Kevin still insists. “His goddamn father created the virus. It’s the least thing he can do.”

Roman takes a deep breath. He knows he’s fighting a losing battle. Kevin isn’t going to change his mind about Seth, no matter what he says. “I expect you to stop disobeying orders. And I would watch my language if I were you.”

“Or what? You’re gonna kick me out?”

“No, but I’m gonna suspend you.” Roman firmly holds his gaze.

The reply he gets is a humorless laugh, laced with mock-disbelief. “You’re gonna suspend me for your little boyfriend? You won’t dare.”

“Try me.” Roman’s voice is as cold as ice. He doesn’t have time for this, and his patience has long slipped up.

The tension in the air between them is palpable; neither wants to be the first one breaking the silence. Kevin turns roughly around, snatching a heavy pot from the counter and fills it with water from the tap. Roman watches his back for a second before stepping back and walking out of the room.

 

* * *

 

“Is there something going on between you and Roman?”

Seth looks up from his beef stew, meeting Becky's inquiring eyes. He’s not even surprised that she can sense something is wrong. He’s been doing a poor job concealing it. “Why would you think so?” But he still won’t admit it that easily.

Becky places her fork near her plate and sighs. “Because he keeps looking this way and you keep trying to ignore him,” she says, her tone patient yet curious. “What’s going on, Seth?”

Looking back down at the plate of food in front of him, Seth exhales softly. He doesn’t know what he should say to make Becky stop wondering. He was the one pulling away from Roman after they came back from Sector 1, and now he’s disappointed because Roman didn’t kiss him a few days ago. What the hell is wrong with him?

“You have feelings for Roman, don’t you?” she says again. Seth’s head snaps up. He carefully looks at her, trying to find judgement in her eyes. But there isn’t any. In them he can only see wistful understanding.

“I guess so,” Seth admits quietly. He’s glad their table is in the corner and that people around them are too occupied to eavesdrop.

A thoughtful smile crosses Becky’s lips. “When Roman found out about what Cedric and Lana did, he was furious. I’d never seen him that angry before,” she says. “I think he feels the same way about you.”

Somehow, that doesn’t make Seth feel better. Even if Roman has feelings for him, what kind of future do they have? Seth could lose him tomorrow—or the other way around. If the virus in his body suddenly acted up, nobody would be able to save him. They both have lost too many people in their lives; neither of them deserves that fate. _Not again_.

Long story short, there is no future for them.

Becky can see that Seth doesn’t feel like talking about it, so she changes the subject to the new supplies that came this morning, much to Seth’s relief. He smiles as he watches her talk. _Sweet Becky_. She’s always been nice to him, from the moment she treated his wound when he first arrived. Even after she found out about who he is her kindness remains the same. He’ll never stop being grateful to have her in his life.

 

* * *

 

Seth suppresses a moan when he feels Roman’s hands on his body. _Yeah, like that… touch me like that._ His fingers are locked in Roman’s silky hair, pulling his head closer. He needs this, more than anything he can think of. Roman’s mouth is warm on his neck, breath ghosting over his throat. The moment Roman’s hand closes on his hardened length, a loud gasp escapes his lips.

_Oh God._

His eyes snap open, greeted by the darkness that’s surrounding him. Still panting, Seth places a hand on his chest. Another vivid dream—just as bad as the ones before. Beside him Roman is still sleeping. Seth’s heart is pounding at the feel of Roman’s hands on him in the dream. He can still feel them all over his body, and it makes him shiver. He breathes hard, trying to calm himself down. _It’s just a dream._ But he can’t calm down. All these dreams are driving him insane. Seth doesn’t want to do this anymore. Shakily, he throws the covers aside and crawls over Roman to rush out of the bed.

He barely has his feet on the floor when he hears Roman’s voice, hoarse from sleep. “Seth? What’s wrong?” He can just make out the outline of Roman’s body sitting up on the bed.

“Nothing. I—I need to go back to my room,” Seth mutters. He can’t think; the fire in his body is too much to take. He just wants to get as far away from Roman as possible. Though he should’ve expected that Roman isn’t gonna make it easy for him to leave.

“What? At two in the morning?” Roman rolls out of bed and the next thing Seth knows, he’s already in front of him. “Don’t be ridiculous. Go back to bed.”

He’s using that military tone which Seth doesn’t like. It ignites the frustration that has been building up within him for the last many days. “Or what, you’re gonna chain me up to the bed?”

Seth hears Roman’s low growl when he grabs his hand and pulls Seth against him, so close that their bodies are molded together. Seth’s eyes widen when he realizes that his erection is now pressed against Roman’s stomach. He’s still hard from the erotic dream that there’s no way Roman wouldn’t notice. In panic, Seth frantically tries to wriggle free from his grip, only for Roman to tighten his arms around him.

“Please,” Seth whispers incoherently, doesn’t even know what he’s pleading for. He lifts his arms to push Roman’s shoulders away, but a strangled moan escapes him as his hands touch the hard muscles. “Let me go... please.”

Roman’s breathing gets faster. Despite his hazy state, Seth can feel that Roman is starting to get hard. It makes him bite his bottom lip, holding back a whimper. _My God._ Roman’s hand trails down his back, slipping under his shirt. “I should let you go.” His husky voice stirs something under Seth’s navel.

“Yes,” Seth murmurs, but contrary to his word he buries his face in the crook of Roman’s neck, breathing him in. “No…”

Roman strokes the warm skin, his other hand slides up to the back of Seth’s head. Tentatively, Seth looks up at him, his heart hammering against his chest. It feels like forever before Roman leans forward and presses their lips together. He kisses him gently at first, caressing Seth’s lips with his. But it only lasts for two seconds. The kiss quickly becomes wetter, rougher, more desperate. Roman’s tongue slips inside his mouth, hot and demanding. Seth hungrily sucks the tip of the tongue, his fingers tangling in Roman’s hair.

Seth barely notices when Roman pushes him down on the bed. He reaches out to pull Roman on top of him, already missing the warmth of his body. Roman’s hair brushes against his face as he presses his lips between Seth’s collarbones. The hair is silky-smooth, gliding between Seth’s fingers with ease. Then Roman gently nibbles on one collarbone, making Seth suck in his breath. _This one’s not a dream._ He tugs slightly at Roman’s head, already wanting him on his lips again. Roman gets the message and looks up. He kisses Seth, tongue tracing over his bottom lip, while his hand reaches down between them. 

It palms the hard flesh, giving it a gentle squeeze. Seth is breathless. All the rational thoughts about why they shouldn’t be doing this have completely evaporated. At the back of his mind he knows it’ll only make everything more complicated. But his body wants this so bad. He _needs_ this.

Somewhere between the kisses, Seth’s shirt is being pulled over his head and tossed to the floor, leaving skin against skin. Roman’s hand finds its way to the waistband of Seth’s sweatpants, then it stops. Waiting. Seth covers the hand with his own before lifting his hips, pulling the fabric down along with his underwear. It’s too late to change his mind now; they’re too far gone. When he’s fully naked, Roman leans down to claim his mouth once again.

“Do you want this, Seth?” Roman murmurs against his lips as he slightly pulls away, his breath hot on Seth’s face.

“Yeah,” Seth whispers back, lifting his hand to touch Roman’s cheek. “Do you?”

“God knows I do.”

He brings two fingers up, tracing the outline of Seth’s lips. Seth opens his mouth and sucks the fingers, thoroughly coating them. His heart is beating so fast with anticipation of what to come. He has only been attracted to men, for as long as he can remember, but Roman was married to a woman. Yet he seemingly knows what he’s doing. His fingers trail over Seth’s inner thigh, drawing some patterns that Seth’s clouded brain can’t recognize. His movement is smooth and certain.

Seth hisses in pain when the first finger carefully slips into him. It’s been a while since he did this. So many things happened in the last two years that sex had been the last thing on his mind. Roman kisses him again to distract him from the intrusion. It seems to work, gradually easing the tension in his body. Sensing that he’s more relaxed, Roman adds a second finger. Seth subconsciously bites down on Roman’s bottom lip, though not hard enough to draw blood. _God_ , he moans when Roman’s finger brushes over that sensitive spot, making him see stars.

“Please… Roman.”

Roman drags his lips across Seth’s jawline, to the side of his neck. “Are you sure?”

Seth replies by bucking his hips up against Roman’s, letting out a small noise of protest when Roman pulls his fingers out. But then something else is pressed on his entrance, rock-hard and hot. Seth squeezes his eyes shut, feeling his head spin. He can’t hold back a whimper as Roman enters him, slowly and carefully.

The searing pain is knocking the air out of him, as if splitting his body in two. He almost doesn’t hear Roman say, “You want me to stop?”

“No.” Seth opens his eyes to meet his gaze. Roman’s face is slick with sweat, concern is apparent in his grey eyes, even in faint light that streams between the curtains. He strokes Roman’s cheek, pulling him down for another kiss. “No,” he repeats, albeit breathlessly. To prove his point, Seth wraps his legs around Roman’s waist, keeping him in place.

Roman groans against his neck and begins to move. Soon Seth gets adjusted to him and the pain subsides, replaced by tightening pleasure in his lower body. Roman’s strokes become more and more erratic by each second. Seth grasps his shoulders as the pleasure nearly becomes unbearable; all of his senses working in overdrive. His erection is trapped between their bodies, overly responsive to every friction. _Please._ He almost can’t take it anymore. His breath is caught in his throat when Roman hits the spot one more time, consuming him—both of them—with white hot fire.

He feels Roman kiss his neck before pulling away. Seth wants to open his mouth to say something, but composing a coherent sentence seems to be a hard thing to do. He watches Roman get off the bed and enter the bathroom, coming back a moment later with a damp towel. Seth’s eyes never leave Roman’s face as he cleans his body, gentle and thorough, without missing a single drop. When he’s back from returning the used towel to the bathroom, Seth has slipped under the covers. Roman looks at him for a second before lying down next to him.

Rolling onto his side, Roman reaches out to caress Seth’s face. The back of his fingers are moving slowly across his cheek. Seth covers Roman’s hand with his. Wordlessly, Roman shifts a little closer, coaxing Seth to do the same, with a gentle pressure on his back. It doesn’t take much for Seth to comply. He can’t deny that his body craves the proximity. They meet in the middle of the bed, again their bodies molded together perfectly.

“Sleep well,” Roman says, barely above a whisper.

Seth makes a small nod as he realizes how exhausted he is. Roman places a chaste kiss on top of his head before putting his hand on Seth’s side. He falls asleep not long afterwards. Seth lies still, listening to Roman’s steady breathing. He looks so peaceful that Seth can’t resist touching his hair, brushing some stray strands off his face.

He doesn’t want to think about the next day. This new intimacy between them changes nothing. If anything, it would only make things more complicated. Seth could still lose Roman tomorrow, and nobody knows what the virus inside him would do.

There is still no future.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally gave in. And as sad as it is, Seth has a point.


	12. Price of Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you who celebrate it! <3

Roman never thought he would feel something like this again, but here he is. The feeling that floods his chest whenever he looks at Seth is warm and gentle, yet strong and persistent. For the first time in two years Roman feels—content. Which he probably shouldn’t, because they’re still in the middle of a threatening epidemic, and nobody knows what awaits around the corner.

But, it doesn’t stop the warmth.

Roman doesn’t try to hide anything from his comrades. Of course he doesn’t touch Seth more than necessary when they’re not alone, but he guesses his eyes don’t lie, when he’s watching Seth. The whispers about them are getting louder, to the point where they’re not whispers anymore. But truth be told Roman still doesn’t care what they think, because his feelings for Seth don’t affect the way he does his job.

“Roman?”

The voice rouses him from his reverie, bringing him back. Roman looks up to see Nia standing on the conference room doorway, the corners of her lips curling up into a smile. “Titus said you’re here,” she says, closing the door behind her then sits down on the chair opposite him. “I called you three times before you noticed me.”

“Sorry about that.” Roman gives her an apologetic smile. “I was just—thinking.” He’s not sure if she knows about him and Seth. Although looking at the understanding in her eyes, she probably does. “Is it time to go?” he asks, glancing at the clock on the wall. Roman only meant to sit here for a bit before a mission, but he got lost in his thoughts and forgot about the time.

“In half an hour,” she says. “From the cases we’ve seen, it seems the new virus is quickly overtaking the old one.”

Roman grimly nods. “So far Eric hasn’t found a solution, other than keep analyzing the virus.” He lowers his gaze to a piece of paper on the table. It has the address of the infected in Sector 9 they’re going to visit. A young woman of twenty three. Her family had to lock her in the basement after she completely destroyed her room.

“Xavier told me they were planning to create something out of Seth’s blood,” she says, a frown has replaced her smile. At the mention of Seth’s name, Roman’s head snaps up. Something Nia doesn’t seem to miss. “Hopefully, they’ll come up with something useful.”

Once again Roman nods. He certainly hopes so. Although Seth doesn’t talk about it, Roman can see that his guilt is still eating him up inside. It’s something Roman can’t protect him from, no matter how much he wishes he could.

“I need to tell you something. It might not be the right time, but I don’t think there’ll ever be a right time,” Nia says again, after being quiet for a while.

“What is it?”

Nia looks at him. “As you know there will be three new recruits coming next week.” She pauses, hesitating. “I’ve been thinking about going back to our home in Sector 12.”

What she said doesn’t come out as a surprise to Roman. It crossed his mind before, of how much longer Nia will stay now that Lola is cured. “It’s your decision to make,” he tells her softly.

Nia’s smile is melancholic as she looks at him. “For Lola’s sake I can’t keep risking my life, Rome. She is everything to me,” she says. “It might be utterly selfish, but once in a while there is one person you’ll choose over the whole world.”

“Of course. I completely understand. ” Roman doesn’t blame her at all for thinking that way. She’s a great mercenary, but they’ll cope without her. As she said new recruits are coming next week, and from what Roman heard two of them were in the army. If people can find a little bit of happiness in this dark time, he would never stand in their way.

They fall silent for a few moments, occupied by their own thoughts. Then Nia speaks again, “Maybe I shouldn’t ask this but… have you ever… considered leaving?”

Roman doesn’t expect her to ask that. It was something Jimmy asked him before he left with Naomi a while ago. At that time Roman told him he couldn’t, and he still doesn’t think he can because they need him here. But now he’d be lying if he said it never crossed his mind. He does wonder what it’s like to live a normal life again… with Seth. Somewhere far far away from here, where there is no threatening virus, no mercenary duties, just the two of them.

“I have,” Roman admits in a low tone. “But it’s not gonna happen.”

Nia watches him, her eyes looking solemn and understanding. “I’m sorry.”

So is he. And that’s why Roman can’t let himself hope. He accepted a long time ago that his chance of having a normal life is gone, and he thought he’s made peace with it.

But it was before he met Seth.

“We should go,” he murmurs, rising from his seat. Nia looks at him for one more second before nodding and follows him out of the room.

 

* * *

 

The clock on the wall shows twelve minutes past five, which means that Becky has been gone for more than half an hour. Seth takes a pen from the pen holder and absently twirls it between his fingers. He can’t leave before she’s back, in case someone needs a first help. Thanks to his mother he’s capable of treating light wounds and cuts, and after being here so often he knows where Becky keeps everything. With a sigh he puts the pen back. He doesn’t like being alone for too long because then his mind will wander. Like, wondering where Roman is and if he’s doing alright.

He shouldn’t worry about him this much. Roman is a soldier, who’s perfectly knows what he’s doing. He should be fine. Seth pushes his chair backwards and stands up. He needs to do something to keep himself occupied, or else he’d drive himself mad with those thoughts.

While he’s in the middle of tidying up bottles of alcohol and peroxide on the shelf, he hears the door behind him creak. It must be Becky. He turns around, mouth open to say something, but the words die down on his lips as soon as he sees who it is. Roman is clutching his shoulder, giving him a weak smile as their eyes meet.

 _No_. “God, what happened?” Seth rushes to him, knocking a box with his elbow and sending it to the floor, but he ignores it. It’s the least of his concern right now.

Roman sits down on the bed and slowly lowers his hand from his shoulder, revealing three long red scratches on the skin. There are some blood droplets on the wound, but not as much as Seth feared. “An infected didn’t want to be restrained—and she has sharp nails. But I’m fine, they’re just scratches,” Roman says, his tone calm and reassuring. Seth feels it’s mostly for his sake. “Where’s Becky?”

“She’s in the lab,” Seth replies, striding towards the shelf to get a bottle of peroxide. “I need to clean the wound.” He tries hard not to think about how much worse it could be.

“Sure.”

Roman winces as Seth gently dabs a cotton ball onto the scratches, but he stays completely still, which must not be an easy thing to do because it stings like hell. Seth knows it from experience. One of the scratches is about six inches long, while the other two are slightly shorter, running from the side of Roman’s neck down to his shoulder. As far as Seth can see no nerves have been damaged. But—they could have been. One inch to the side and it might have cut Roman’s jugular vein. Seth’s hand trembles at the thought, a chill is creeping up his stomach. _Stop thinking about it_ , he scolds himself. But the thought stubbornly refuses to leave his head.

He doesn’t’ realize that his hand has stopped moving, until he feels Roman cup his face. “Hey,” Roman says, “I’m okay.”

Seth looks up to meet his gaze. “It could have been a lot worse.” _One inch._

“But it’s not,” Roman says again, his thumb stroking over Seth’s cheek. “I’ll be more careful, I promise.” When Seth doesn’t reply, he lets out a soft sigh and leans forward. His warm lips touch Seth’s, gently coaxing him to return the kiss. After a moment of hesitation, Seth kisses him back. _Roman’s fine,_ he thinks, trying to push the worries to the back of his mind. _He’s here._

Seth’s eyes blink open when he feels Roman pull away. He doesn’t even remember when he closed them. Roman gives Seth one last quick kiss before pressing their foreheads together, his hand still holding Seth’s face. Time seems to slow down.

But eventually Seth has to finish cleaning the wound. He pulls back from Roman’s touch, moving towards the other shelf. He retrieves a small bottle of ointment that he knows will soothe the skin. Roman’s eyes never leave his face as he carefully applies it along the scratches. “Do they still hurt?”

Roman smiles faintly as he shakes his head. “No.”

“You shouldn’t go on missions until they fully heal,” Seth tells him, despite already knowing what the answer will be.

“I can’t. Until the new recruits are ready there are only me, Titus, and Curtis,” Roman says softly, almost apologetically.

Seth reaches out to touch his face, isn’t sure how long he can push the dread away. Roman must have sensed the tension in his body, because he slightly turns his head and kisses Seth’s palm. But it doesn’t drive the fear away—nothing can. Roman won’t stop doing his dangerous duties. And Seth can’t do anything to protect him.

 

* * *

 

This place slowly becomes more and more foreign. Wherever Seth turns he’ll see unfamiliar faces looking his way. Most of them are the new infected’s family members, but there are also new recruits to replace some of the mercenaries. Nia and Lola are gone, back to their home in Sector 12. Seth is happy for them, he really does. Because Lola deserves to have a normal life—as normal as a child can have in this fucked up time. But he’s gonna miss her terribly.

“I’ll see you again, right?” He remembers Lola ask him before she left.

It was such a simple question, yet Seth had no idea what to answer. He didn’t want to lie to her, but giving her false hopes would be just as cruel. So he merely smiled and said he hoped so, without making any promise. If she picked up the tinge of sadness in his voice, she said nothing about it. Instead she kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck in a long, lingering hug. Seth’s eyes were hot as he caressed her brown hair, planting a kiss on her temple. Then his eyes met Nia’s. She was standing behind Lola, wiping some tears off her face.

“Thank you for everything,” Nia told him softly.

Seth forced himself to smile. “You guys take care.” He hugged Lola for some more moments before moving to Nia. And then they were gone.

Now Seth is following a new mercenary who told him Bischoff wanted to see him in the research lab. He tries to remember the guy’s name—Bryan, Byron? He’s sure it’s the latter. Byron doesn’t say much but he gives Seth a small smile before he leaves. There are two more recruits, but Seth has only seen them once so far. One of them is a young woman called Dana, who’s a medic, and the other one is a tall, slender guy with tattoos all over his neck called Corey.

Bischoff is the only person in the research lab. His face isn’t easy to read, as usual, but Seth swears he can see something flicker in Bischoff’s eyes when he looks at him. Whatever it is.

“You want to see me?” Seth asks.

“Yes,” Bischoff says. His gaze is still fixed intently on Seth, starting to make him feel uncomfortable.

He knows Roman trusts the man with his life. But Seth still has the weird gut feeling that makes him can’t completely trust Bischoff. And his blind faith in Unipharm certainly doesn’t help. “Anything new about the virus?”

“Yes.”

It’s an answer that Seth didn’t expect to hear. His body automatically stiffens, heart thumping loudly in anticipation, hope, anxiety, he doesn’t know which one is more prominent. The medical team has been doing researches and tests on it for days, and people start to wonder if they will ever get a result, any result. Now that they have found something it feels hard to believe.

“What did you find?” Seth asks again, carefully.

Bischoff doesn’t reply right away. He watches Seth for some more long seconds before averting his gaze to the computer screen on his left. “We’ve done everything we could, tried anything we could think of. But the immunity in your blood isn’t strong enough to neutralize the developed virus by itself.”

The little hope begins to diminish as he listens, but before he says anything, Bischoff continues. “I had to contact a person with more knowledge about this matter,” he says and then pauses. “Bray Wyatt.”

The name doesn’t affect Seth as much as Hunter’s, but it still leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Bray was partially responsible for the outbreak, probably as fascinated by the virus as Hunter was. _And Unipharm made him the new head scientist._ Seth’s instinct urges him to flee; Unipharm has only done him more harm than good. But his curiosity wants to hear more. “What did he say?” He forces himself to stay calm.

Instead of answering the question, Bischoff says, “We all want the same thing, don’t we? The cure for the new virus.” He pauses again for a second. “Bray suggested that we do what Hunter did back then. Injecting you with the virus, little by little until your cell barrier absorbs it and creates a stronger immunity.”

_Do what?_

Seth blinks, his body feels cold as he tries to grasp what Bischoff just said. He shouldn’t be surprised that Bray would suggest something in that capacity. The fact that Bischoff is considering it should be enough for Seth to run and never look back, as far away as possible from this place. _But what if it’s the only solution they have?_

What if… there’s no other way?

“It could—kill me, couldn’t it?” he asks, can’t quite conceal the shakiness in his voice.

Bischoff sounds neutral when he replies, like his usual self. But something flickers in his eyes, the same thing that Seth is sure he saw earlier. “It would be risky.” _Was it sympathy?_ “If we decide to do it, we’d have to be extremely careful. And it’s entirely your choice, nobody will force you to do it,” he says, holding Seth’s gaze. “But you might be the only hope we have.”

A part of Seth still wants to run, but another part—the bigger one—makes him stop… and consider.

What has he got to lose?

He’s lost everything, his home, every person he loves. And he’s got a fucking virus living inside him. No one knows what that virus will do to his body. Nobody can guarantee it won’t suddenly act up and attack his red blood cells. Like cancer cells, but ten times more dangerous, more unpredictable. And then he would die anyway. Or maybe he’d survive; he did it once with Hunter, right? If there was something he could do to help them, he should. Everything has a price, even redemption.

Seth takes a deep breath. _Nothing_ , he’s got nothing to lose. But then something—someone—crosses his mind.

 _Roman._ He still has Roman.

Roman will never let them experiment on him. If he was furious with Cedric and Lana for wanting Seth’s blood, how would he react to this? But… he’s still a member of The Nightbreakers, and their objective from day one is to find the cure—whatever it takes. And he risks his life every day to help the infected.

So what will Roman choose?

 

* * *

 

Roman looks up from his book when Seth enters the room, and a sigh of relief escapes his lips. He was getting worried. He heard from Byron, one of the new recruits, that Eric wanted to see Seth in the research lab, but he had been there for hours. Roman didn’t see him in the dining room for dinner, and now it’s almost nine o’clock. Roman already meant to look for him in the lab, if he wasn’t back before nine thirty.

“Have you eaten?” he immediately asks.

“Yeah.” Seth closes the door and walks across the room. Roman is sitting on the bed, with his back against the wall. Seth keeps walking until he reaches the bed, and then he stops, never taking his eyes off Roman. “In the kitchen.”

Putting his book aside, Roman shifts to give Seth some space to sit on the bed. “What did Eric talk to you about?” he asks when Seth sits down facing him. “Why did it take so long?”

Seth doesn’t reply. His gaze roams on Roman’s face, as if he hasn’t seen Roman for days. It’s a bit odd, because they saw each other this morning. And they were together the night before.

“Is there something on my face?” Roman lifts his hand to brush some stray strands off Seth’s face.

“I like looking at you,” comes a soft, almost absent reply.

That makes Roman smile. He moves his hand to gently trace Seth’s bottom lip with his thumb. He takes in Seth’s face, his beautiful chocolate brown eyes and perfect, soft lips. “Can’t be as much as I like looking at you,” he says. “So what did Eric tell you?”

Seth lowers his gaze. “Just that they’re trying something with the virus, and they’ll need me in the lab tomorrow to—monitor something closely,” he replies, looking back up at Roman. “I might need to stay there for a while.”

“Are they sure it’ll work?”

There’s silence for a second before Seth lightly shrugs. “They hope so.”

Roman is about to ask what exactly they’re planning to do, but Seth leans forward and carefully presses his lips on the side of Roman’s neck, near the wound that’s starting to heal. It’s distracting, the feel of Seth’s mouth on his neck. With a soft exhale, Roman puts his hands on Seth’s waist, pulling him onto his lap. He feels Seth lock his arms around his neck as their bodies mold together, perfectly as always.

The weight of Seth’s body on top of him makes Roman forget his question. Seth kisses him, slipping his tongue inside Roman’s mouth. It starts off slow and gentle, but Seth quickly deepens the kiss. He rocks his hips, brushing his hardened length against Roman’s stomach, making him groan.

“Seth, slow down,” he breathes hard between the kisses. He takes a hold of Seth’s head, causing him to stop moving. “No need to rush it, we have all night,” Roman tells him, his hand goes under Seth’s shirt. He wants to touch him, feeling every inch of his skin.

As Seth looks at him, Roman can see some uncertainty in his eyes. But then Roman’s hand slides down his back, slipping inside his sweatpants. Seth lets out a gasp when Roman squeezes his backside.

“We have all night,” Roman repeats, his voice getting rougher. He can’t take his eyes off Seth’s beautiful face. “And tomorrow night...” He pulls Seth’s head down and claims his lips. “And the nights after that.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Roman... if only you knew.


	13. The Choice

“Rome, we’re here.”

Roman’s head snaps up. As he looks over his shoulder, he sees Curtis watching him with sheer curiosity on his face. They’re back in the base again. He was lost in his thoughts almost all the way home, that he didn’t notice Curtis pull over.

They left the base early in the morning, driving to Sector 5 with Curtis behind the wheel. A distraught teenage boy called them after his parents showed signs of infection, and after just one look it was obvious that they were infected. But sadly it was too late. Curtis shot them before they bit the boy, while Roman quickly grabbed him, pulling him away. Later they drove him to his aunt, who’s the only family he has left.

“You okay?” Curtis asks, pulling the key out of the ignition.

“Yeah,” Roman says. “Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” For a second it seems like Curtis is about to say something, but he just nods and jumps out of the car. Roman absently follows him.

He can’t get the boy’s face out of his head; the slight hope and then pain, followed by acceptance that his parents were too far gone. How many more faces like that is he going to see? Eric and the medical team don’t seem close to find something that works. This whole situation is a mess—as if the outbreak wasn’t bad enough.

But it’s not the only thing that’s been bothering him.

Seth has been acting weird since he came back from the lab yesterday. This morning he kept watching Roman when he was getting ready, with something in his eyes that Roman couldn’t decipher. And when Roman asked him if something was wrong, he merely shook his head and smiled. Roman wanted to stay longer to make sure that nothing was wrong, but he had to leave. Is Seth hiding something from him again?

_It’s something he’s very good at._

When Roman pushes the door open, he hears a familiar voice. “Where’s Roman?” Then he sees Xavier standing before Curtis in the middle of the corridor.

“I’m here,” Roman says, making both of them turn to him. “What happened?” He doesn’t like how frazzled Xavier looks, which is uncharacteristically him.

Xavier takes a deep breath. “Unipharm—there are two Unipharm people in the lab with Eric. They might—“

He hasn’t finished his sentence, but Roman doesn’t wait around to find out. He has stopped listening the moment he heard the word ‘Unipharm’. They’re here, in the lab. _And Seth said they wanted him in the lab today._ Blanking everything else, Roman rushes to the end of the corridor. He doesn’t even stop to apologize when he bumps into someone on his way there.

His heart is beating so fast, he can feel his blood pumping.  But he doesn’t care, neither does he stop moving. He needs to get there before they do something that will hurt Seth. Whatever their reason of being here, it can’t be good. Although Foley has proven that he’s trustworthy, Roman doesn’t trust the rest of them. Not one bit.

Slamming the door open, Roman storms into the research lab. Three faces are looking at him; one seems surprised while the other one remains indifferent. However, the third person’s lips curl up into a smile, as if he’s already expecting this. Eric looks genuinely taken aback to see him, but Roman barely gives him a glance. The same as the second person, who's a gigantic guy he’s never seen before. Roman ignores them as he fixes his eyes on the third guy—on the familiar face of Bray Wyatt.

“What are they doing here?” Roman asks Eric in a sharp tone, but his gaze never leaves Bray’s face.

Before Eric opens his mouth to reply, Bray lets out a laugh, one that makes Roman’s chest hot as anger shoots through him. “A pleasure to see you again,” Bray says, the laugher is still dancing in his eyes even after he stops. “The last time I saw you, you were nearly dying.”

“The last time I saw _you,_ your head was almost split in two,” Roman replies. It elicits another twisted laugh.

“You’re as charming as I remember.”

Roman clenches both his hands into fists. He doesn’t have time for this, though it would feel so good to erase the crazy smile off Bray’s face with his punch. “Eric?” he demands, averting his eyes to the leader. “What are you going to do to Seth?”

“Something we were always supposed to do.” Again, Bray is quicker than Eric. “To finish what Hunter started, for the sake of mankind.”

“Stop talking in riddles,” Roman snaps, then inwardly reminding himself to stay calm. He can’t lose it right now. “Eric, what the hell does that mean?”

Eric that Roman knows always keeps his composure, but it seems like it’s starting to slip up. Something flashes on his face as he looks at Roman. Something that resembles… guilt. “We don’t have any other choice, Roman. We’ve tried everything we could think of. But none of those works.” He pauses for a moment. “I’m afraid, we’re running out of time.”

It sounds just as confusing as Bray’s riddles. Roman shakes his head. “What are you gonna do to him?”

A soft intake of breath, and then, “We’re planning to inject him with the new virus, until his immunity absorbs it and creates a cell barrier that’s stronger.”

_They’re planning to do what?_

“No,” Roman starts in a low voice, shaking his head, slowly at first and then rapidly. His voice grows louder as he shouts, “Fucking no!” He strides closer to Eric. The medic doesn’t step back, but he almost flinches. _Almost_. “I’m not gonna let you experiment on him.”

When Eric speaks again, his voice is calm. “Roman,” he says. “Your feeling is clouding your judgement. Remember who we are. We help the infected and do whatever we can to find the cure.”  

“Not at the expense of Seth’s life!” Roman hasn’t lowered his voice. “There’s no guarantee that it would work. But it’s guaranteed that it could kill him.” He takes another step forward. “You can’t do this.”

And then it dawns on him. _Seth knows._ This is why he was acting weird—as if he wouldn’t see Roman again. The realization makes Roman’s stomach twist.

_Why didn’t you just—tell me?_

“That’s what Tyler was born to do.” Roman’s head snaps around to see Bray with a smile on his face. “Death doesn’t stop life. Our bodies are just vessels, for the soul that will keep on living,” he goes on.

What fucking nonsense is he sprouting? Roman doesn’t understand a word that came out of his mouth. “I told you to stop talking in riddles,” he snaps impatiently. “You’re not coming anywhere near Seth. Not at goddamn Unipharm, and definitely not here.” He begins to stalk towards him, but the gigantic guy blocks his path. His dark eyes look blank, fitting with the lack of emotions on his face.

“I would be really careful if I were you, Roman,” Bray says, his voice mockingly soft. “Braun doesn’t like threats.”

Braun looks down at Roman, and a slow, sinister grin is spreading on his face. Roman pushes past him but he doesn’t even flinch. It’s like hitting a thick brick wall. Brushing some hair off his face, Roman shoots him an angry stare. “Get out of my way,” he tells him with gritted teeth, but Braun doesn’t budge. His grin is stretching wider. Roman averts his eyes to Bray who still has that sickening smile on his face. “Tell your _little_ bodyguard to move out of my way, or else—“

He hasn’t finished his sentence when Braun shoves him, making him lose balance and lurch backwards. “Or else what?”

“Enough! Roman, you better go. It’s decided that we will carry on with this, starting tomorrow,” Eric orders firmly. Then his voice gets a bit softer. “Seth agreed to do it.”

“Of course he did, he always feels responsible. Even though none of these is his fault,” Roman retorts. His heart clenches at the thought of Seth accepting them to experiment on him—again—despite knowing full well that it could kill him.

 _All because of guilt_.

“I need to see him,” Roman suddenly says, making a move to turn around, but a big hand clutches his shoulder, holding him in place.

“So you can persuade him to change his mind? I don’t think so.” Bray comes into view. “Be a good boy and listen to Eric,” he says in mock tenderness, letting out another twisted smile.

Roman roughly yanks himself free from Braun’s iron grip, but a sharp pain shoots through him as Braun’s fist hits the side of his face. The effect is enough to send him stumble backwards, his back collides with a chair. He vaguely hears Eric shout something he can’t make out. The pain blurs out his vision, making his head throb.

He touches the corner of his lips and winces. Blood is smearing his fingertips when he pulls them back.

 

* * *

 

“At least nothing is broken, only some cut on the bottom lip,” Becky says, pulling slightly away to observe his face. “Here, hold this.” She carefully presses an icepack on his lip. Roman nods and mumbles a thank you, watching her as she rummages through some stuff in a drawer. “This oil will help reducing the swelling,” she says, holding up a small tube. After some time Roman removes the icepack from his face so Becky can apply the oil.

“That Unipharm guy,” she says after being quiet for a moment, “he’s the biggest guy I’ve ever seen. He could easily break your jaw, Roman.”

Roman looks up to meet her concerned gaze. “I don’t care if he breaks my jaw. It’s not gonna stop me,” he says, his voice growing more urgent. “I need to find Seth.”

She parts her lips, taking a deep breath. “I can’t believe they really want to do this… experiment...” she trails off.

“Despair makes people do desperate things.” Roman says glumly, rising from the bed.

He understands their reason, in a way. Seth might be their only hope, and who knows, perhaps it would work. They might be able to create a stronger immunity if Seth’s blood could absorb the new virus, like what Hunter did. But Hunter had years to do it—they don’t. “I can’t let them do that.”

“What are you going to do?”

He turns to her again, gently shaking his head. “You can’t lie to them about things you don’t know, in case they ask you.”

Becky’s eyes are understanding as she nods. For a moment neither of them speaks, until she leans forward to hug him. “Stay safe,” she tells him. “You and Seth.”

Roman strokes her back for a few seconds before pulling away. “Me and Seth,” he echoes, giving her a small smile. Then his face becomes more serious. “But first I need your help with something.”

 

* * *

 

The most logical place for Seth to be is in the restricted section behind the Q lab. Roman crosses the lab in brisk but calculated strides, trying not to draw attention. Since he’s there often, people don’t see his presence as something unusual. He avoids eye-contact with anyone and goes directly to the corridor that leads to the section.

As he carefully opens the door at the end of the corridor, he sees Curtis standing in front of the entrance, staring at Roman as if he has anticipated him coming. _Of course,_ Eric isn’t stupid; he knows a punch in the face wouldn’t stop Roman. He wouldn’t leave Seth unguarded.

Just as Roman thought.

Curtis looks forlorn, like he doesn’t want to be there. His eyes are downcast and his body unnaturally stiff. He exhales heavily. “You’re not supposed to be here, Roman,” he says with strained voice. “You should go before anyone notices.”

“You know I can’t do that.” Roman takes one step forward and sees Curtis’ jaw tighten. “I’m not leaving before I see Seth.”

They stand in silence for some long seconds, holding each other’s gaze. Then Curtis speaks, almost apologetically. “I’ve got an order to not let you in. I’m sorry.” He shakes his head. “If you try anything I’d have to stop you—by any means necessary.”

Roman watches him for a moment, pushing away the guilt that starts to creep in. He has to do this, as much as he wishes he didn’t have to, because neither of them will back down. Before Curtis has time to react, Roman surges forward and grabs his arm. Then he pulls out a syringe from his pocket and pushes the needle into the skin of Curtis’ arm, holding him as his body goes slack.

The sedative that Becky gave him is the smallest amount; it’ll only make Curtis unconscious for a couple of hours. There shouldn’t be any side effect, Roman has made sure of it.

“I’m sorry,” Roman murmurs, carefully putting his unconscious comrade on the floor. Then he rises to his feet and opens the door.

 

* * *

 

Time passes really slowly in the restricted area. Seth has only been here for hours, but it feels like days. He’s alone most of the time, lying in the bed with eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. But he can’t. Too many thoughts are running in his head, tangling and twisting around, combined with the heavy guilt in his heart.

He couldn’t bring himself to tell Roman.

Will Roman be angry when he finds out? Yeah, most likely he will be. This isn’t the first time Seth lied to him about something so serious. But it’s his responsibility, nobody else can do it _._ Roman has to understand, because that’s what he does—what The Nightbreakers do.

Seth’s eyes snap open when he hears someone open the door. He blinks, trying to make sure that he’s not dreaming. As their eyes meet, Seth feels his breath caught in his throat, leaving him breathless. Roman crosses the room in several long strides and stops by the bed. He brings his hand to cup Seth’s face, leaning down to press his body on Seth’s, desperately. Seth shuts his eyes as he wraps his arms around Roman’s neck.

“Roman,” Seth whispers when Roman pulls slightly away. He opens his eyes, finding Roman’s grey orbs fixed on him. “I’m sorry…”

Instead of giving a reply, Roman pulls him close again, as if his life depends on it. Running his hand down Roman’s back, Seth feels that guilt is clawing in his chest. _I wish it didn’t have to be this way._ Roman holds him tight, so tight it almost makes Seth breathless. But he needs it—they both do.

After what feels like hours, Roman finally pulls back. Seth opens his eyes, taking in Roman’s face and noticing his swollen lip for the first time. “What happened to—“ he starts, but Roman cuts him off.

“Come with me.”

There’s desperation in his voice that Seth doesn’t miss. He slowly shakes his head in question. “What?”

“Come with me,” Roman repeats, his eyes never leave Seth’s face. “To where Jimmy and Naomi are, behind Sector’s 12 wall. And then we’ll figure it out from there.”

Seth can only watch him with parted lips, doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say. “You want… us to leave this place?”

“I’m not gonna sit around and let you do this,” Roman says; Seth can see his jaw tighten. “Not when it might kill you.”

Seth sits up on the bed. “But Hunter—“

“Hunter had _years_ to do it; we don’t have that luxury. Do you think Bray Wyatt cares about your safety? If something happened to you he’d just say at least they tried. Correct me if I’m wrong,” Roman cuts him off again, sounding almost snappy. Yet, his voice is laced with despair that grows more apparent. He draws in a deep breath, putting a hand on Seth’s face. “Don’t do this, Seth,” he says, his voice goes softer, but the despair still lingers. “Please.”

It breaks Seth’s heart all over again, knowing that he’s the one causing the pain Roman is feeling. He covers Roman’s hand with his, slowly shaking his head. “I can’t let you betray your comrades for me,” he says, feeling something hot in his throat.

Now he knows what Roman has chosen.

“You should go,” Seth says again, blinking back the tears. He gently peels Roman’s hand away from his face. But Roman doesn’t move, his eyes are still on Seth. “Maybe I’ll be fine. I survived it before, didn’t I?” Seth forces himself to smile, despite smiling is the last thing he wants to do. “Maybe you don’t have to—“

“I love you.”

It sounds more like a sad confession than a declaration. Seth stares at him, unable to form a word let alone a coherent sentence. Roman stares back at him, his chest heaving as he breathes.   

“Please… come with me.”

Seth opens his mouth, but still no words come out. Hot tears are pricking his eyes, blurring out his vision. Roman chose him… breaking every rule to keep him safe, to protect him once again. And all Seth did was lying to him.

The sound of opened door makes Roman turn quickly around, while Seth still tries to process what just happened. Bischoff enters the room, his expression grave as he looks at Roman, like he already expected to see him there.  Behind him comes Bray Wyatt, followed by his big security guy Braun. Bray doesn’t look surprised either; a smile is attached to his face, as creepy as Seth remembers.

“What you did to Curtis has crossed the line,” Bischoff tells Roman, sounding more disappointed than angry. “I can’t believe it, you of all people.”

Roman’s body stiffens, but he stays still. “I’m not proud of it, but I gotta do what I gotta do.”

Bischoff looks speechless for a moment. Then he shakes his head in disbelief. He opens his mouth, about to say something, but Bray speaks before him.

“If I knew you would be a thorn in our path, I wouldn’t have given you Tyler’s blood.” He stares at Roman. His voice is calm, contrary to his venomous words. “We should have let the virus do its job.”

Seth sees Bischoff turn to Bray, looking genuinely surprised. “I don’t think it’s—“

“Yeah, you should,” Roman says in a low growl. On his sides, his hands are clenching into tight fists. “Cause as long as I’m here, you’re not laying a finger on Seth.”

What he gets is another smile. “We’ll see about that.” Bray gives a slight nod, and before any of them can do anything Braun strides forward and grabs Roman by his upper arm, throwing him to the other side of the room. He hits the glass wall so hard that it cracks.

“Roman!” Seth jumps from the bed. But before he can reach Roman, Braun pushes him out of the way, the impact sending him to the floor. He lets out a cry as his back collides with the steel bed frame.

His back is throbbing with pain, but he tries to ignore it. Putting his palm on the floor, Seth winces and pushes himself up. But then he sees Braun cross the room to where Roman still lies. He crouches down behind him and wraps his arms around Roman’s neck in a headlock. Roman attempts to hit him with his elbow to break free, but the giant doesn’t budge.

“Bray, stop this!” Now even Bischoff has lost his calm. “I won’t tolerate violence. Tell him to let Roman go.”

Seth’s vision is blurry, but he can just make out the creepy smile on Bray’s face as he looks at Bischoff. “My apologies, Eric, but I can’t do that.” Then before Bischoff can react, Bray lunges on him and pulls something out of the pocket of his lab coat—a syringe. He pushes the needle on the side of Bischoff’s neck, the smile never leaves his face. In a matter of seconds, Bischoff’s body goes limp and he drops down to the floor.

Across the room, Roman continues to struggle against Braun, but his attempts seem futile. Braun taunts him by loosening his lock for a moment before tightening it again, grinning near his ear.

“What have you given him?” Seth asks Bray breathlessly, looking at Bischoff’s unconscious body. “You’re not—“

Bray steps closer to him. “Something out of your Roman’s playbook,” he replies, crouching down in front of Seth. “Don’t worry, that wasn’t the virus.” His smile reappears as he takes something out of his other pocket.

”This one is.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I got a little emotional writing this. But, stay with me... one more chapter to go.


	14. Icy Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally done! I can't believe it took me so long to finish. I wasn't sure with the original ending that I planned, and after running through several options I was happy with this one. It feels right. :)
> 
> I wanna thank everyone who has stayed with me from the beginning, always motivating me with kind words. I wouldn't have finished this if it wasn't for you. This story means so much to me, so thank you. I hope you enjoy this. <3

Cold dread is crawling under Seth’s skin and numbing his body, that even the pain on his back seems to dissipate. Is this how it’s going to be? That Bray Wyatt will finally be able to finish the work his father started? It’s not that Seth is afraid to die. Maybe to a certain extent he is, because don’t they all? When his mother died Seth lost his ability to feel anything else but a determination to find the cure. And if it would cost him his life, then be it. He’d die trying. But somewhere along the way, something started to change… Seth started to change.

A strangled moan pushes him off his thoughts. Across the room, Roman is frantically tugging on Braun’s arm around his neck, struggling to break free from the headlock. His dark hair falls around his face that’s contrastingly getting paler by each second. A rush of panic flushes through Seth’s heated body; the giant could suffocate him to death, and it would be Seth’s fault. _Again_. If he never met him, Roman wouldn’t end up in this situation—and Sami and Dean would still be alive.

“Please, let him go,” Seth pleads, averting his eyes back to Bray. “He has nothing to do with this. It’s… it’s between you and me.”

Bray’s creepy smile remains attached to his face. “He should be the least of your worry,” he says, but despite his words he waves a hand and Seth sees Braun loosen his hold, although his arm stays around Roman’s neck. Seth breathes out in relief. But he should have known that his relief won’t last long. They never do.

“I have nothing against you, Tyler,” Bray speaks again, his gentle tone would deceive anyone who didn’t know him better. “I’m doing this to finish what Hunter started.”

“Hunter was insane.” Seth winces as he puts his palm on the floor to hold himself up. The throbbing pain is back. “Toying with other people’s life like it’s nothing.”

He soon finds out that it’s the wrong thing to say. Bray’s eyes darken as soon as he hears the words and the smile vanishes from his lips without a trace. “He was brilliant!” he snaps, eyes narrowed dangerously. “Unlike him, you’re just a stubborn fool. Don’t think I have forgotten that you knocked my head and threatened to slit my throat open.”

Seth’s breathing quickens as Bray slides closer, but the bed frame keeps him from backing away. He hears Roman growl, “Don’t you dare touch him!”

Bray stops moving as he turns his head. “Be careful, Roman. It won’t be difficult for Braun to break your neck like a twig. You don’t want that… do you?” he says, sounding eerily calm. Then he looks back at Seth, lifting his hand in a slow movement. The needle on the syringe glistens menacingly as it reflects the light. “It’s for the greater good.”

 _Maybe he’s right._ Maybe, it has to be like this.

“Seth, no, please,” Roman yells at him with a hoarse voice.

Seth turns to him, slowly shaking his head. His throat is tight with unspoken guilt. He knows they have no future together, but it’s always so easy to forget. There were… times, where Seth allowed himself to wonder, how it would feel to be with Roman somewhere away. _Like a fool._ In Roman’s bed, with Roman’s arms around him, safety doesn’t feel like an illusion. But it is. There’s no such a thing as safety.

_Not anymore._

“What’s happening here? Why is Curtis—“

Xavier appears by the door, stopping on his tracks. Seth sees him take in Bischoff’s unconscious body then Roman and Braun near the wall, his face blanches as he realizes what must have happened in the room. Bray turns around, distracted by Xavier’s sudden presence. Seth’s heart is pounding in his chest, so hard it might stop beating any minute. This is it; this might be his only chance

As fast as he can, Seth pulls hard at Bray’s hanging lab coat and drags him down. Then two things happen at once. Bray loses his balance and hits the floor, and almost at the same time Roman bites down on Braun’s arm so hard that he groans and releases the headlock. Before the giant is up to his feet, Roman tackles him, using his full weight to crash both of them into the glass wall. The cracked glass shatters in a thousand pieces as they both tumble to the other side.

“Roman!” Seth cries out.

Both Roman and Braun lie on the floor in a tangled heap, unmoving. Seth pushes himself upwards and begins to crawls towards them, feeling that the pain on his back is starting to cease. There’s no time to waste; Bray can be up any minute. Seth is almost there… just a few more feet. But as Roman’s legs are finally within his reach, someone grabs his shoulder and forces him to stop.

“We could have done this the easy way, _Tyler_ ,” Bray hisses on his ear. Before Seth can react a cold sharp tip of a metal is pressed to the side of his neck, and in one smooth movement it pierces through his skin.

Seth’s head bumps the floor as he sinks; a painful cry escapes his lips. Slowly but surely his skin is burning, like each vein in his body is being set on fire. He opens his mouth, breath coming out in short gasps. His eyes are wide open, although the lights are blinding him. _This is it_. He’s going to die. The burn doesn’t stop, but another sensation begins to take over.

Ice, making him feel like he just plunges deep into frozen water, unlike anything else he’s ever felt before. How is it possible to burn and freeze at the same time? He can feel his body shiver as the ice is spreading, but underneath his skin the fire continues to burn. The sensation stops for a moment, only for it to start all over again. Ice, fire, ice.

_Icy fire._

 

* * *

 

Roman’s head is throbbing from the contact with the glass. He can feel pieces of shattered glass cutting his skin and drawing blood, but he ignores them. He doesn’t have time for that. Entangling himself from Braun’s unconscious form, he forces himself to get to his feet. The first thing he notices when he touches Seth is that his body is ice cold. And as Roman looks at his face, a familiar blue tint is starting to appear across Seth’s parted lips.

Shaking his head, Roman pulls him against his chest. “It’s fine… you’ll be fine,” he murmurs against Seth’s hair, tightening his arms around him, so tight that he almost crushes Seth. “I’m not losing you, too, baby. I’m not…” Seth’s eyes are open, but there is no reaction. He just keeps shivering.

Roman jerks when another person kneels down next to him. His body automatically tenses, but he relaxes when he sees the familiar face. Xavier keeps his gaze on Seth for a long moment, his face looking concerned. When he looks up and meets Roman’s eyes, he opens his mouth about to say something. But the words never come out. A roar of laughter fills the room, taking both of them by surprise.

In the panic of what happened to Seth, Roman has completely forgotten about Bray Wyatt. He’s still standing in the middle of the room, a few feet away from them, with a manic expression on his pale face. His body shakes as he laughs, over and over. White-hot rage shoots through Roman, clouding his vision. The image of Bray pulling Seth’s shoulder and injecting him with the virus flashes before his eyes. _How fucking dare he?_

“Shut up,” Roman barks at him. His hand that isn’t holding Seth clenches up in a tight fist. But Bray completely ignores him, as though he hears nothing. “Shut the fuck up!” Roman raises his voice.

He feels a rush of blood to the head, his heartbeat pounding relentlessly. The next thing happens so fast, that Roman has no time to think it through. He lays Seth down on the floor, instinctively gentle, then he leaps on Bray with more force than necessary. Both of them stumble as Roman slams him hard onto the tiles, holding his shoulders down. “I said shut the fuck up!”

“Roman, don’t.” Xavier is suddenly behind him, gripping his arm. “Let him go.”

But Roman’s anger has gotten the better of him. He doesn’t even try to stop. All he knows is that he wants to see Bray bleed, wants him to pay for what he did to Seth. To make things worse, Bray doesn’t show any signs of fear or remorse, despite being trapped underneath him. His laughter has stopped, but a cruel sneer is now forming on his lips.

“It’s fulfilled,” Bray murmurs with content, his smile growing wider. “I finished what Hunter started.”

Roman grabs the lapels of Bray’s coat. “You can tell him that in Hell,” he lashes out, a hard punch landing on Bray’s jaw once, then two, three more times. Each time his fist strikes skin and bone, Roman feels a surge of exhilaration. The son of a bitch is asking for it.

“Stop it, you’re gonna kill him!” Xavier yells at him, tugging at his arm in panic.

But Roman ignores him as his body moves on its own accord. Even if he wanted to stop, he couldn’t. Underneath him, the smile is finally erased from Bray’s face. His right eye is bruised and swollen, blood trickles down his mouth, out of his nose—and still Roman doesn’t stop.

“So cold…”

Seth’s weak voice snaps Roman out of his rage. He gets off Bray’s limp body in a flash and kneels down next to Seth. “Are you okay, baby?” he asks. It takes a few seconds for Seth to look up at him, but at least he is responding.

“I’m so cold,” Seth murmurs. Before Roman can get to his feet, Xavier grabs a blanket from the bed and rushes back to them. He hands the white blanket to Roman, who immediately wraps it around Seth’s body.

“Is this better?”

Roman breathes in relief when Seth gives him a slow nod. “A bit,” he says, head resting on Roman’s chest. “My body feels weird, it’s cold… but also hot.”

Tightening his arms around Seth, Roman looks up at Xavier. But the medic isn’t looking at him. Instead his gaze is fixed on Seth’s face, or more precisely on the side of his neck.

“The veins have turned—“ Xavier pauses and gulps. “Purple… they’ve turned purple.”

Roman feels a clench around his heart. A part of him has expected it, but the other—bigger part—was still hoping that Seth’s cell barrier would be able to fight the virus. Maybe it did… but it wasn’t strong enough. As he blinks, his vision is starting to get clouded with tears. Despite everything he’s done he couldn’t keep Seth safe. And now he’s gonna lose him, like he’s lost everybody else.

Xavier looks at both of them in turn, with a genuine sympathy in his eyes. “But they’re not as prominent as the other infected’s,” he says with a weak smile that Roman feels is mostly for their sake. “Not yet.”

“They will be,” Seth replies, in a surprisingly stronger voice. He makes a move to straighten up, putting his hand on Roman’s chest for leverage. Roman keeps an arm around Seth’s waist to hold him, and then brushes his tears off with the back of his other hand. Seth raises his head to look at him. Their eyes meet for a moment, before Roman lets his gaze flicker down to Seth’s lips—blue tinted lips—and further down until it stops on the twisting dark veins under his skin. Unmistakably purple.   

Breathing becomes hard as a big lump is blocking his throat. But when Roman looks back up at Seth’s eyes, he’s a little taken aback by what he sees. The chocolate brown eyes remain beautiful, emitting a gentle glow that’s much brighter than Roman expected. Those are not an infected’s eyes. _Could it be…?_

“We need to go,” Seth shakes him off his reverie. Roman can hear a hint of urgency in his voice. “Braun can be up any minute. He’s not gonna spare you this time.”

He’s right. Once Braun sees Bray Wyatt’s bloody face, he’ll turn the place upside down. Roman isn’t worried about himself; he doesn’t care what Braun is gonna do to him. But he’d be damned if he let them lay a finger on Seth again.

Roman nods, and that makes Seth smile a little. “I’ve never gone behind the wall,” he says softly, a faraway look crosses his face. “I heard people say it’s beautiful beyond words, like no other. I wanna see what it looks like—just once.” _Before I die._ He didn’t say the last part out loud, but Roman can still hear it.

Drawing in a deep breath, Roman gently helps Seth stand up, keeping him wrapped in the white blanket. He’s about to place his arm under Seth’s knees to lift him, but Seth shakes his head. “I can still walk,” he says, giving Roman a faint smile. Roman’s first instinct is to not let him, because the image of Seth’s body hitting the floor is still vivid in his mind. But he knows Seth is gonna insist. After some long seconds of deliberation, Roman finally agrees to let him walk. Xavier holds Seth’s arm and walks with them towards the door.

It’s impossible not to attract any attention once they reach the Q lab. Roman has cuts all over his arms and some on his face, and Seth is clinging to him like his life depends on it. People stare in curiosity, but so far nobody tries to stop them. It’s like they’re too taken aback to do anything other than staring. Until a few familiar faces begin to materialize in front of them.

“Where are you going? You can’t leave.” Cedric’s face is pale as he abruptly shakes his head. “My—my sister needs you.”

 _Great._ They don’t need this. Any other day, Roman would likely be more sympathetic towards the young man; after all he knows exactly what he’s been going through. But not now. Not when they are racing against time trying its best to take Seth away from him.

Before Roman can open his mouth to scold Cedric, Xavier already speaks. “Bray Wyatt injected him with the new virus. As you can see, he’s starting to get the symptoms. Which means… his blood can no longer help us,” softer than what Roman thinks Cedric deserves.

“But—” Cedric looks at Xavier in confusion, and then averting his eyes back to Seth. “It can’t be… he can’t…”

“He’s not the fucking cure anymore,” Roman snaps at him, his little-left patience has finally run out. They really don’t have time for this. He glances over his shoulder, half-expecting to see Braun slamming the door open. Looking back at Cedric, he says, “Which part of it that you don’t get? Move out of the way.”

For the longest second, it looks like Cedric isn’t gonna budge. He stands still in front of them, his eyes wide and wild. Roman is so close to push past him, but then someone gently puts a hand on Cedric’s tense arm.

Lana fixes her gaze on Seth for a second before looking over at Cedric. “He’s not our cure anymore,” she says, with a slightly trembling voice. As she blinks, Roman can see that her eyes aren’t dry. Cedric still looks bewildered, but judging from how his shoulders have slumped, resignation is starting to take over his insistence.

Giving Lana a thankful nod, Roman gently pushes Seth’s back and they walk towards the door. Nobody else tries to stop them on the way out, much to Roman’s relief.

 

* * *

 

The drive to the wall is long for Roman’s restless mind. But at the same time it passes too quickly. Before he knows it, they’ve been past the wall and continued to head west. Xavier walked with them to the car earlier, helping Seth to buckle his seatbelt. The medic didn’t say much, but he didn’t have to. His face revealed everything that his words didn’t.

“Take care—both of you,” he said before closing the passenger’s door, sounding soft and rueful. He looked at Roman and said again carefully, “We always need you here.”

Roman merely nodded. He didn’t want to think about what he was going to do after Seth is… gone. He couldn’t. And he still can’t, even now after he’s been driving for hours.

He tries to keep his eyes on the road most of the time, but he can’t help glancing at Seth every so often. Seth is leaning on his seat that’s being pulled back as far as it can. His eyes are closed. Under the last ray of late afternoon sunlight, the blue tint on his lips seems to be slightly fading. But Roman can’t let himself hope. It might not mean anything, since Seth’s case is different from everybody else’s. But the end result will be the same, and there’s nothing Roman can do about it. The sooner he makes peace with it, the better it will be.

_Easier said than done._

The houses and asphalt roads of the sectors have long been replaced by dirt and gravel paths as they drive through woods and meadows. The change of terrain also means that Roman can’t drive fast, as he tries to avoid any holes or bumps to not shake Seth off his slumber; luckily, his car is a four-wheel-drive.  A part of Roman doesn’t want to stop. Perhaps, if he kept driving then time would slow down, and the inevitable wouldn’t come closer.

Such a foolish thought from a desperate man. Time is never gonna slow down; he should’ve known that by now.

Eventually, he pulls over to a stop on an open meadow overlooking a green hill. He went past this place when he drove Jimmy and Naomi to her uncle’s farm a while ago. The breathtaking scenery makes it impossible to forget: fresh grass with tiny yellow flowers all over the meadow, pine trees on the sides of the hill, with different shades of green. Everything still looks as beautiful as it was last time.

But they do nothing to ease the painful, iron clench around Roman’s heart. Closing his eyes for a second to compose himself, Roman tightly grips the steering wheel with both hands, so tight that his knuckles are turning white. Then slowly he opens his eyes and turns to face his fear.

He reaches out to carefully brush some hair off Seth’s face, almost doesn’t want to wake him up. As if he could read his mind, Seth opens his eyes. He blinks once then turns his head to look at Roman, making Roman lose his breath a little. Even after all this time, Roman still thinks that his chocolate eyes are the most beautiful thing.

 _But soon, they’re gonna turn black._   

Roman draws in a deep breath to push the thought away. If this is their last time together, he has to make the most of it. But again… it’s easier said than done. His concern must have been reflected on his face, because Seth slowly lifts a hand and touches his cheek. Forcing himself to smile, Roman leans forward to unbuckle Seth’s seatbelt, followed by his own. Then he covers Seth’s hand with his, mentally reminding himself not to clasp the hand.

“We’re here,” Roman says softly. “I drove past this place on the way to Naomi’s uncle’s farm. It’s only a few kilometers south from here.” Then he pauses for a moment. “How are you feeling? Still cold?”

Under Roman’s wary gaze, Seth weakly shakes his head. “No, haven’t felt cold for a while,” he replies, wincing as he shifts to sit straighter. “I don’t really feel anything. Just… tired.” All of a sudden he slumps forward, but Roman catches him before his head hits the dashboard.

“It’s okay, I got you,” Roman says, gently pulling Seth to rest against his chest.

Minutes pass as they stay still in silence; their breathing is the only sound Roman can hear. He strokes Seth’s shoulder under the blanket, fighting the urge to squeeze him tighter. He can’t do that. Before them the sun is starting to set behind the hill, enveloping everything with a gentle golden glow.

“It’s beautiful,” Seth murmurs. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Roman absently mumbles a yeah, pressing his lips onto Seth’s hair and letting them linger there.

“Roman?” Seth says again a few moments later.

Still feeling wary, Roman slightly shifts so that he can look at Seth’s face. “Yeah?”

Seth’s voice is soft when he speaks, almost serene. “You have to burn my body after I die.”

A hot iron fist grips the insides of Roman’s stomach, making it difficult for him to breathe. “No,” he blurts out. “No, I can’t do that.”

The silence that follows is unbearable. Or perhaps it’s the way Seth lifts his face and looks at him. His eyes are wistful, yet at the same time Roman can see a soft understanding in them, as well as—pity.   

“You have to… Roman,” Seth says, giving him a weak smile. “You said Jimmy and Naomi live nearby. We can’t risk me turning into a zombie… and harming them.”

Roman squeezes his eyes shut. “How do you expect me to choose?” He tightens his arms around Seth, to a point where he’s nearly crushing him. Seth’s head is back on Roman’s chest, tucked in the crook between his neck and shoulder. “How do I?” Roman murmurs again.

Burning Sami’s and Dean’s bodies were the hardest thing to do, but they were all mercenaries and the risk of being killed on missions is always there at the back of their minds. And in a way, they’ve made peace with it. Roman knows Dean and Sami would have done the same thing, if the roles were reversed. But Seth was the cure… he wasn’t supposed to be infected.

And Roman is _so in love_ with him, desperately, hopelessly.

There is no reply. Roman presses his mouth to the top of Seth’s head, feeling some hair tickle his nose. He doesn’t want to open his eyes, terrified of what he might find. _Just a little bit longer._ And the time keeps ticking. But in the end he can’t stay there forever, as much as he wishes he could.

Reluctantly, Roman blinks his eyes open. In front of them, the sun has completely set behind the hill, leaving only faint orange tint in the sky.

The blanket slides off Seth’s shoulder when Roman slightly moves his hand. His heart skips a beat. Seth’s skin is not as ice cold as it was a few hours ago. Could it be? _No, calm down, Roman; let’s not get ahead of ourselves_. But Roman can’t suppress the glimmer of hope that’s starting to emerge. He takes a couple of deep breaths to compose himself, then lowers his head to look at Seth’s face.

 _Oh my God._ Maybe his eyes are deceiving him, but the blue tint on Seth’s lips is completely gone. With shaky fingers he carefully tilts Seth’s head to get a clearer view of his neck. And what he sees makes him lose his breath. Seth’s veins are—no longer purple.

“God, please” Roman breathes out. Either he’s hallucinating or Seth is healing. There is only one way to find out.

It’s not easy to take something out of his vest pocket when his hands are trembling so much. After a few futile attempts, Roman is finally able to retrieve the small device he always carries with him. He presses the metal tip to the back of Seth’s ear and clicks on the trigger. The beeping sound feels too loud in the stillness of the car. Lifting the device, Roman fixes his gaze on the display, heart thumping madly in his chest.

_Clear._

Roman can’t hold back a relieved sigh that escapes his lips. The device is dropped to the floor when he cradles Seth’s head between his palms, but Roman couldn’t care less. He kisses Seth’s forehead, the tip of his nose, then both his cheeks, before settling on his lips. Seth’s soft lips are getting warmer by each second, but this time Roman knows he’s not hallucinating. Then he feels Seth’s lips begin to move under his. Pulling away a little so he can look at him, Roman takes in Seth’s fluttering eyelids until his eyes are fully open. Even under the faint, insufficient light, those beautiful chocolate eyes still manage to take Roman’s breath away.

“...Roman?”

“It’s okay, baby,” Roman whispers, stroking Seth’s cheek with his thumb. “You’ll be fine.”

_We’ll be fine._

 

* * *

 

A little wince creases Seth’s face as he raises his arm. It still hurts and stiff. Of course, he should expect that, considering he only got the cut a few days ago.

Despite Roman’s order to wait for him, Seth was repairing one of the wire fences by himself, because he was worried the cattle would escape. But he misjudged the distance between some wires and it sliced through the skin of his left arm, causing a deep cut about three inches long. Roman told him off for nearly half an hour while he tended his wound.

It’s been almost four months since they’ve lived here with Booker and his family, as well as Naomi and Jimmy. They’re probably the nicest people that Seth knows. They accepted them with open arms after Roman explained their situation, despite Seth’s apprehension that they wouldn’t.

Booker and his wife have been living here for more than twenty years. Two of their sons had lived in Sector 12, but after the outbreak they’ve all come back to live in the farm. Booker once told Seth that people were getting complacent and being too dependent on technologies, but Mother Nature will always provide everything necessary for human survival, such as water, animals, rocks, and timber. Once a month, one of them will drive to Sector 12 to get medicine supplies and some other things, but mostly they live off their own livestock and crops.

In a way, Seth can see his point. This place feels so far removed from the cities and his old life; it’s almost like the infection doesn’t exist. Though in reality it’s always there looming in the distance, waiting for the time to sweep everything on its path. Perhaps, it won’t ever come. Maybe together, Unipharm and Bischoff will find something that can stop the virus—being smart people and all. Or maybe it’s already too far gone. But Seth won’t let himself be worried sick. He’s alive, he’s with Roman, and that’s all that matters.

Speaking of Roman, he’s not gonna be happy with what Seth is about to do. But he has to do it, or else he wouldn’t stop being restless.

Carefully, Seth unties the bandage around his arm and unwraps it, letting it fall on the ground. His gaze roams on the cut, which is still as red and swollen as it was two days ago. A deep breath leaves his lips. It still feels weird that he doesn’t heal as rapidly as he used to, though he should have expected it. His one-of-a-kind cell barrier is gone. Now he’s the same as everyone else.

“Seth, why are you still here? It’s almost time for—“ Roman doesn’t finish his sentence when he sees Seth’s bare arm. “Not this again.” He sighs and grabs Seth’s other arm, pulling him towards the main house.

Seth lets Roman lead him inside without much resistance. It’s his fault anyway; he isn’t supposed to remove his bandage—again. On the way to their room, he sees Naomi walking out of the kitchen. She smiles at them.

“Guys, dinner’s ready.”

Before Seth opens his mouth, Roman beats him to it. “We’ll be there shortly,” he tells her without stopping. Seth only manages to give her an apologetic smile before Roman leads them up the stairs.

In their room, Roman motions Seth to sit down on the bed while he goes to retrieve the first aid kit from the table. Seth hisses as Roman dabs the wound with alcohol-soaked cotton ball. It always stings as hell. Roman glances up at him, stopping what he’s doing for a moment. It inevitably brings back memories of the base, and how Becky cleaned Seth’s wound when he first arrived.

 _Becky._ Wherever she is, he hopes she’s doing all right.

“You gotta stop doing this,” Roman breaks the silence. He reaches for a fresh bandage and carefully wraps it around the wound. Then he looks up and meets Seth’s eyes. “It’s not gonna make it heal quicker.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Seth says quietly. “It’s just that—I need to see if I’ve really lost my ability to heal quickly.” He lowers his gaze to his newly bandaged arm. “That the virus inside me is really… gone.” He feels rather than hear Roman’s soft sigh. Looking back up to meet his eyes, Seth blinks, isn’t sure of what he expects to see. Roman places Seth’s arm on his lap and shifts closer.

“I understand. It’s a lot to take in,” Roman tells him softly. He reaches out to caress Seth’s face with the back of his fingers. “But think about what could happen if you keep removing the bandage; the wound could get infected. It’s the last thing we want.”  

Seth gives him a gentle nod. “Yeah, you’re right. I won’t remove it before the wound heals.”   

A smile tugs at the corners of Roman’s mouth, making Seth smile, too. Roman locks their eyes for a moment before leaning forward to kiss him. As always, the world ceases to exist whenever he feels Roman’s lips on his, touching not only his body but also the deepest part of his soul. _You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me._

All too soon, Roman pulls back. He kisses the tip of Seth’s nose and says, “The cabin’s almost done. It just needs the finishing touches.”

“Really? That’s good. Naomi’s very excited to move in,” Seth says with a smile. Naomi once told him that while everyone was really nice, she wanted them to have their own space again. Now she’ll finally get her wish.

“Yeah,” Roman responds. “But there’s more.” He’s watching Seth with some glint in his eyes, and an unfamiliar smile is crossing his face—as if he knows something that Seth doesn’t.

Seth can’t help frowning at that. “What is it?” What could it be?

The smile on Roman’s face gets wider. “As soon as we’re done with Jimmy and Naomi’s cabin, we’ll start to build ours.”

It takes a few seconds for his words to sink in. Seth shakes his head in disbelief, his mouth opens then closes; it makes Roman chuckle. “We’ll build our own cabin?” Seth finally manages to ask. It seems too good to be true, he’s worried he heard Roman wrong.

“We will,” Roman says reassuringly. “Living here is great, but I wanna have you to myself, most of the time at least.”

Seth’s face creases into a smile. “Sounds good to me.”

Roman pulls him closer and kisses him one more time, caressing Seth’s lips with his smooth tongue, coaxing him to open his mouth. They continue to kiss, alternating between hard and demanding, to warm and soft. They will probably keep going if the necessity to breathe didn’t force them to part.

“Shouldn’t keep them waiting,” Roman says in a hoarse voice.

Seth merely nods, can’t trust himself to speak. He takes a deep breath and runs his fingers through his hair to smoothen it. After a moment, Roman rises from the bed and starts to walk towards the door. Seth follows him.

Before his hand reaches the door handle, Seth stops him by putting a hand on his arm. Roman turns his head, looking at him questioningly. For some long seconds Seth lets his hand linger on Roman’s arm. He can’t believe they haven’t even known each other for a year; it feels like forever ago that they met. And they’ve been through so much. Distrust, trust, tragedies… _affection_. Seth doesn’t know how his life would be if he never met Roman _. And how Roman’s would be._

By the door, Roman is still waiting patiently, as he always is with him. Seth lets out a smile, pressing his lips to Roman’s cheek. “I love you,” he whispers.

Roman lifts a hand and strokes Seth’s face once again, seemingly forgetting that they’re supposed to be downstairs ten minutes ago.

“I love you, too, baby.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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